AIR TANZANIA RESUMES FLIGHTS WITH LOWEST FARES IN THE MARKET
Air Tanzania yesterday resumed flights on the route between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, via Kilimanjaro, now operating twice a day on a morning and evening service between the commercial capital, the countrys safari capital Arusha and the lake side city of Mwanza.
From reliable sources it was learned that a return ticket presently sells at 199.000 Tanzania Shillings, at least 16.000 TShs cheaper than the next lowest fares and a staggering 51.000 TShs cheaper than leading carrier Precision Air.
A one way ticket still undercuts rivals with a fare of 136.000 TShs, making sure that passengers are lured away from other airlines initially over the price, before punctuality, ground and inflight service come into play again.
Precision presently flies 4 times a day between Dar and Mwanza and 7 times a day between Dar and Kilimanjaro, leaving all others trailing in their wake when it comes to frequencies.
A source close to Air Tanzania did however say: The airline is trying to source another jet and the Bombardier Q300 aircraft which had the mishap in Kigoma some weeks ago is under repair. ATCL needs more than one plane, as back up and to fly to other destinations too and this will happen sooner than later. The market now is watching how punctual Air Tanzania is but they got a very good plane and should have no technical hitches.
In turn has a source close to Precision Air dismissed the market start as no threat to Precision Air as: in the end it is the punctuality, check in, handling and in flight service which matter more than a bit of price difference in fares. Of course everyone knew that is the only way ATCL can get back into the market not wishing to comment though on an unwritten directive that government officials must use ATCL and give their business to the national airline, to help it back on its feet, or rather to keep it in the air.
Watch this space as the fight for market shares and passengers on Tanzanias domestic routes has just taken a turn to the wild side.
2 Responses
Was your ‘reliable source’ the atc twitter account that has been advertising those fares for sole days now?
That source was a travel agent in Arusha – I don’t follow ATCL on Twitter.
And it has been in my inbox for 3 days but could not process it due to my regular work load.
Thanks for reading my blog.
W.