PRECISION AIR SHRUGS OFF FASTJET ARRIVAL WITH DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH
The showmanship of FastJet mouthpieces notwithstanding has Precision Air just announced a 13 percent growth in passenger numbers for the period between April 2012 and end January 2013, with a record uplift of 750.762 passengers compared to the same period in the previous year with 663.636 passengers flown.
The growth since the arrival of another airline on the routes between Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Mwanza during the period November 2012 to end January 2013 still made some 6 percent more passengers flown with 222.654 compared to the same period in the previous year of 209.696.
Acting CEO Allen Sharra – Ms. Sauda Rajab will officially take up her new position as CEO on March 01st – said when he announced the figures over the weekend: ‘The Tanzania air travel market has become more competitive with the introduction of new airlines. However Precision air’s performance in terms of passenger uplift has continued to grow impressively despite this increased competition. We have managed to achieve this due to the unmatched services we offer our customers, convenience [and] destination frequencies of our schedules and our true Tanzanian hospitality enjoyed by passengers travelling by Precision. Overall, passenger numbers have todate grown close to a million through a double digit annual percentage growth’.
Sharra also reiterated that the recently launched flights to Mbeya warranted going daily after only a few weeks since the airline had resumed flights to the newly opened airport in Songwe, while frequencies to Mtwara were upped from daily to 11 per week with the aim of going double daily as demand kept rising for passengers to fly to Tanzania’s ‘oil and gas capital’.
Precision Air remains Tanzania’s only airline certified by IATA with the coveted IATA Operational Safety Standard accolade which sets it miles apart from any other airline presently competing for space in the skies over the country. Precision was also the first airline worldwide to take delivery last year of an ATR 42-600 series aircraft with more of the same, including the larger sistership ATR 72-600 still awaiting delivery under orders placed with the French manufacturers. Coming up in terms of new destinations will be Lilongwe / Malawi and Harare / Zimbabwe by mid 2013, following in the footsteps of the launch of flights to Lusaka / Zambia via Lubumbashi / Congo DR.
Following the media briefing yesterday at the Precision Air offices in Dar es Salaam it was also learned that self professed rivals FastJet have also hastily called for a media briefing on Tuesday, so watch this space to see what they have to say about their recent woes, as and when information has become available.
5 Responses
That sounds good for Precision air. However, if I were an investor in Precision air, I would like to know what the Load Factor is. Do you have this? Carrying more passengers could be a positive, but it could also mean that an airline is just putting on more flights or has more aircraft in the air, adding to costs without adding to profitability.
Will check and see if I can get the answers. W.
Thanks. That would make things comparable and is more transparent.
Still waiting. Me thinks the old load factors are bad!
Any luck in getting info on load factors?