EASTER EGG SURPRISE FOR TANZANIA AS NEW AIRCRAFT FINALLY TOUCHES DOWN IN DAR
(Posted 03rd April 2018)
(Photo by Dave Potter / Jetphotos taken in Southend / UK)
After sitting on the ground in Heraklion / Crete for several days, giving the crew and those onboard a paid for holiday, did Air Tanzania’s third Bombardier Q400NG finally touch down in Dar es Salaam yesterday shortly after 5 pm. A source in Dar attributed the delay in bringing the aircraft home to the unavailability of ‘dignitaries’ earlier on over the Easter weekend to receive the new plane, after the aircraft had left Montreal already on the 29th of March before, after several fuel and rest stops enroute (YUL – YYR – KEF / Night Stop – SEN – HER / Extended Night Stop – JIB – DAR), the last one in the Greek city of Heraklion, awaiting the final green light to fly via Djibouti to Dar.
Poor planning for that ferry flight apart will Air Tanzania finally have a third aircraft available and can begin to expand their destinations and flight frequencies, before from mid year onwards two more Bombardier planes are due to join the fleet.
Two CS300’s will give ATCL the capacity to further widen their network, much needed since later in 2018 a Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner is supposed to join the fleet too, an aircraft which needs passengers to fill it and operate it in a financially viable manner on long haul routes which the airline still has to confirm. Towards that end will ATCL have to build up demand for long haul flights across its African network in line with what other airlines in the Eastern African region like RwandAir have done over the past years.
Happy Landings to the new bird, its crews and passengers when it enters commercial service in a few days.
Link to the previous article announcing that the ferry flight from Montreal to Dar es Salaam has left Canada:
https://atcnews.org/2018/03/31/breakingnews-as-airtanzanias-third-bombardier-q400nextgen-finally-enroute-to-dar-es-salaam/
