TANZANIA AND CHINA SIGN NEW BASA
(Posted 15th February 2014)
Tanzania and China earlier this week signed a new Bilateral Air Services Agreement, in short BASA, to facilitate improved flight links between the two countries by airlines designated to operate on the route by their respective civil aviation authorities.
The new deal was signed in Dar es Salaam by the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority Director General Fadhili Manongi and the Deputy Head of the Civil Aviation Authority of China Li Jian.
Presently traffic from China to Tanzania and vice versa routes through the two main hubs in Africa, Nairobi and Addis Ababa, or the Gulf hubs of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha as no direct flights exist between the two countries until now. The new BASA is aiming to eventually introduce direct flights and it remains to be seen which of the major Chinese airlines will be designated by the CAAC to have permission to go on the route. No details could be obtained as to how many frequencies the BASA will permit for airlines from each country or what aircraft types were approved. Watch this space for breaking and regular aviation news from across Eastern Africa.
