East African Business Week (Kampala)
8 June 2009
Dar Es Salaam — Precision Air is set to start direct flight services between Mwanza and Nairobi effective next month.
Precision is the only airline that currently offers the most connections to all major towns in Tanzania and is the only operator in the country to achieve IOSA-IATA operational safety audit standards.
Precision Air was ranked sixth in Africa and the second in the East African region after Kenya Airways by IOSA-IATA ratings.
Speaking to East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam last week, at the launching ceremony of its brand new ATR 72-500 series, Phil Mwakitawa, the airline's Marketing Director said Precision has inaugurated the direct route due to high demand from their customers.
"Our current route is from Mwanza to Nairobi via Kilimanjaro. As what you may sense, it is a very long trip; that is why we have decided to short-cut by introducing direct flight services," said Mwakitawa
Mwakitawa added that after introduction of this new route, customers will have liberty to choose whether to use direct flight or go through Kilimanjaro. Both flights will provide services on a daily basis.
The CEO, Mr Alfonse Kioko, last week launched a new aircraft that bears the registration PWC and the name Mwanza that will mainly serve the Dar es Salaam-Mwanza route.
Kioko said the aircraft differs from the rest of the fleet as it will feature state-of-the-art in-flight entertainment allowing passengers to watch movies and listen to music.
PWC is the third in seven brand new aircraft that Precision has ordered from ATR of France. In 2006 Precision and ATR signed a US$129 million deal to deliver seven brand new aircraft.
The first aircraft, named PWA, was delivered in March last year and the second one, named PWB, was delivered in November the same year.
"Under the terms of the deal ATR is required to deliver two aircraft each for the first two years and three in the final year," explained Kioko.
The airline last year emerged winner of the 2008 CEO's Most Respected Company Survey which was run by Nation Media Group in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Kioko revealed that the financial deal of the seven aircraft, namely two ATR 42-500 series and five ATR 72-500 series, has brought them two international awards.
In April this year, Airfinance Journal awarded them the $129 million structured fiancé lease, "African Deal of the Year 2008" at the 10th Annual Deals of the Year Awards in New York.
The financing of the ATR fleet was last December awarded by Jane's Transport Finance magazine, as the "2008 Aircraft Leasing Deal of the Year In Africa."
Retired Col. Serenge Mrengo, the acting Mwanza Commissioner who inaugurated the brand new aircraft at Mwanza Airport congratulated the airline for its efforts to make its customers get excellent service.
The airline offers the widest connections to all major towns in Tanzania including Mwanza, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Mtwara and Arusha. Regionally, the airline flies to Nairobi, Mombasa and Entebbe.
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