| Dear ATC Readers,
Coastal Aviation continues to bolster its operational and safety standards. Since the beginning of this year, we have embarked on a journey to ensure that we meet or exceed internationally accepted standards of safety in the aviation arena. We have made considerable progress on training and put in place the foundations for those giant strides, and should soon be able to announce those developments to you and our mutual customers.
In the meantime, here are a few updates for your notice.
KWAJONI AIRSTRIP CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE
You may recall that we stopped flying to the Kwajoni airstrip, restarted and then stopped again. Through that cycle, our Safety Teams have conducted risk assessments to evaluate the risk to our customers and aircraft. Whilst these decisions have created commercial turmoil, I hope you find it reassuring that we now have robust processes to safeguard all of us.
We are also pleased to report that the airstrip management are embarking on a further round of maintenance and rehabilitation. Thus, the airstrip will officially be closed from Monday 27 August to Saturday 16 September 2018.
We are sorry for this inconvenience, but to minimize the disruption, we have made diversion plans to route our aircraft through Tanga airport.
COMMERCIAL ORGANISATION
Our Commercial Director, Rob Prophet, ends his consultancy period this month. Since Rob joined the Coastal team some 6 months ago, he has pulled together the commercial team to lead them in great strides with structure, focus and direction. Coastal would like to extend our gratitude for all the work Rob has done in his time at Coastal. We wish him well in his future endeavors.
In the meantime, whilst we recruit the right candidate for this role, one of our Group Directors, Paolo Chiaro, will hold the fort on an ad interim basis. We will continue in the commercial direction of leveraging agency relationships to create mutual benefit, whilst enhancing the customer proposition.
CLOSURE OF COASTAL OFFICE IN ARUSHA
We continue to evaluate our business model and how we can continue to serve all our customers in the most cost effective, value driven way. With effect from Saturday 1 September 2018, we will be closing our Arusha city office located at the Clock Tower.
Whilst there is a tinge of sadness leaving this historic location, we are happy to report that access to our teams will in fact be further strengthened. You may contact our enhanced reservation centre via email on reservations or by telephone on +255713325673. We are also temporarily deploying Christian Ruggiero into Arusha to manage our relationships there face-to-face. He is available on +255773823050 and can be reachable via email on christian .
GROUND SUPPORT IN KOGATENDE
At this time of year, with the Great Migration crossing over from Serengeti into the Mara, Kogatende has become an unimaginably busy airstrip! This small airstrip has to contend with a dozen or more aircraft on the ground at the same time, which translates into a great deal of passenger and vehicle traffic. In order to relieve the pressure on our pilots and provide for a better customer experience, we have deployed our own dedicated ground resources onto the airstrip.
George joined Coastal last month and is providing a sterling service managing passenger, baggage and aircraft movements. Together with John at Seronera, both are already making such a huge impact – hongereni na karibuni sana!
The busy peak continues for us in the Tanzanian safari business. We wish us all success!
On behalf of Coastal, I would like to thank you for your continued support and cooperation, as we continue to grow together with safety and exceptional service as our raison d’etre.
With our warmest regards. Safari Njema! |
