The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
6 July 2009
Precision Air has launched a direct route to Nairobi from Mwanza, bringing to 13 the destinations served by the airline in East Africa.
The carrier said yesterday in a statement that the route, which was launched on Friday, would see the airline double frequencies to Nairobi from Mwanza to eight per week.
Previously, the airline, which is 49 per cent owned by Kenya Airways, flew four weekly flights to Mwanza via Kilimanjaro International Airport.
"This brings to 13 the total number of destinations served by Precision Air within East Africa and a total of 381 departures a week from the destinations making the airline to have the widest network in Tanzania," the airline noted in the statement.
Managing director Alfonce Kioko said the direct flight to Mwanza will ensure that flying time is minimized. It will also improve connections in and out of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to South Africa, Dubai, London, Entebbe and Doha, he noted.
According to him, the airline has invested in the new direct route as a way of improving its service to meet customer needs.
"This route has been established to meet high demand of business travellers especially those in the mining industry which is growing very fast, fish and other businesses done in Mwanza," he noted in the statement.
"Total passengers airlifted through the Precision Air partnership have increased tremendously from 216,990 in 2004 to 538,305 this year,"he said of the airline whose market share in Tanzania is 49 per cent with an annual turnover of $65 million.
Precision Air is the only IOSA certified Airline in Tanzania and is 100 per cent electronic ticketing compliant. It also has the largest fleet size in the country following signing of the $129 million deal for delivery of seven brand new aircraft with plane maker ATR of France in 2006.
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.
Precision Air currently flies to 13 regional destinations and has plans to introduce flights to other international destinations including Luanda, Lubumbashi, Johannesburg, Harare, Pemba and Nampula in Mozambique, and Lilongwe. Locally, the expansion strategy targets Mbeya, Songea, Dodoma, Pemba Zanzibar and Tanga.
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