The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Samuel Kamndaya
11 November 2009
The monopoly of Swissport Tanzania on the ground handling services industry is officially over following the licensing of three new players by Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) last month.
The authority formally announced the development early this month naming the new service providers as Precision Air Ground Handling Company Limited, African Ground Handling Company Limited and Zanair.
Its board of directors, which met on October 21 in Dar es Salaam to approve the new licencees, disqualified one applicant, Kilimanjaro International Limited of Arusha, which had applied to provide in-flight catering and unspecified airport services.
The three operators have been given licences to do business for five years but Precision has cried foul over the type of licence given to it.
A senior official of the company, Mr Alfonse Kioko, who is also the managing director of Precision Air, said their company has been given a class III licence which they did not apply for.
He said the company had wanted a class I licence, which would have enabled it to provide services at major airports.
The licence it got enables it to operate at all other airports in the country except Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), Kilimanjaro International Airport, Zanzibar International Airport and Mwanza Airport.
"We do not know why they decided to give that class for we believe we command vast experience in ground handling it's like we are still in edge of one company's monopoly," the Precision Air managing director, Mr Kioko told The Citizen over the phone on Monday.
Mr Kioko said they have appealed against the decision.
When contacted on the matter, TCAA public information officer Abel Ngapemba was not very specific but said the country's infrastructure at major ports is not well developed to accommodate many ground handling companies.
African Ground Handling Company Limited also got a class III licence while Zanair has the go ahead to serve all airports in the country but on condition, which TCAA did not specify.
Companies with the class I licence serve JNIA and those with a class two one can serve Kilimanjaro International Airport, Zanzibar International Airport and Mwanza Airport.
According to the East Africa Air Transport Survey that was conducted in 2005, liberalization of ground handling services helps among other things to bring service charges down for the benefit of consumers, according to the 2005 East Africa Air Transport Survey.
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