Dar es Salaam. A De-Havilland Dash 8 Q300 Aircraft, operated by Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), resumed flying on Wednesday after undergoing maintenance.
ATCL is deploying the 50-seater aircraft on the Dar es Salaam-Kigoma Route and one such trip was conducted on Wednesday when the aircraft departed JNIA at 6am and landed safely at Kigoma Airport at 8.45am.
The aircraft went through a successful routine maintenance service at the airline’s hangar at Dar es Salaam’s Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) to comply with the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) safety standards.
“It was offline for a brief period for major servicing and maintenance at the company’s maintenance facility at the JNIA under the local ATCL maintenance crew…it is now back,” said an ATCL Aircraft engineer, Mr Righton Mwakipesile on arrival at Kigoma Airport. He said upon completion of maintenance work, the aircraft underwent an inspection by a team of experts from the TCAA. The team went on to approve a “C” check maintenance grade and awarded it a Certification of Airworthiness (CofA) prior to bringing it back to the skies.
The return of the Dash 8 Q300 brings to two, the number of ATCL aircraft in operation. Last year, the airline resumed scheduled daily flights between JNIA and Mwanza Airport using a Bombardier CRJ 200 aircraft. The ATCL Public Relations Officer, Ms Lily Fungamtama, said the return of the aircraft will significantly improve the company’s business and enhance service delivery to its customers.
She said the coming of the aircraft will enable ATCL to execute its short-term plan of re-establishing the carrier’s traditional routes to Kilimanjaro and Tabora as well as increasing its flying frequency to Mwanza.
“In addition, the aircraft will also complement our company’s action point to introduce direct flights from Zanzibar to Comoros in the near future following numerous requests from the business communities in the two countries,” said Ms Fungamtama. ATCL is the only carrier that flies directly between Dar es Salaam and Comoros, enabling passengers from Comoros to connect to further destinations through Dar es Salaam. It also links the domestic destinations of Kigoma, Mwanza and Mtwara via Dar es Salaam.
