TZW
Costing 32 million US dollars (over 65bn/-), the plane is one of the five aircrafts for the national flag carrier, Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), which were ordered from the Montreal-based company. But, the aircraft was confiscated after a British-registered construction company, Stirling Civil Engineering approached Canadian courts with a claim of 38m US dollars allegedly owed by the government of Tanzania.
“Unlike bigger planes capable of making direct flights, this aircraft had a flight plan which included various stops in some countries before arriving in Tanzania anytime tomorrow (today),” the ATCL boss explained. Last year, the government admitted that the aircraft had been seized, blaming some elements in the opposition who were working with foreigners to sabotage implementation of several development projects initiated by President John Magufuli.
Reports indicate that British company had on March 29, thisyear, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the case at the United States District Court for the District of Colombia. It is yet unclear whether the two parties decided to settle the matter out of court.
News of the arrival of the new plane were made on Friday by the Director of Presidential Communications, Mr Gerson Msigwa, who said the plane was expected to land in the country anytime.
According to Mr Msigwa, three other planes, including two- Bombardier CS 300 from Canada and one-Boeing 787- 8 Dreamliner from the United States of America (USA), will arrive later this year. Mr Matindi described the release of the eagerly awaited Bombardier Q400 as highly inspiring, saying the arrival of the new planes will significantly improve the performance of the fleet. The 76-seater passenger aircraft will make the BombardierQ400 planes fleet rise to three, but the number of the model aircraft is expected to rise to five later this year.
Currently, the available planes operate between Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Kigoma, Kagera, Dodoma, Mbeya, Ruvuma, Mtwara, Zanzibar and Comoro routes. The purchase of the new aircrafts is an implementation of President John Magufuli’s promise to revive the national carrier that was on the verge of collapse.
Bombardier Q400s are capable of operating in difficult environment. When inaugurating the first two Bombardier Q400 planes at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in September 2016, Dr Magufuli said the government had made an advance payment of 40 per cent before finalising the payment later.
The government’s airline revival plan includes the purchase of at least three Q400 planes, two Q-300 series jet planes from Bombardier and one Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Boeing. Two Q400 planes have already been delivered, with the other planes expected to arrive in Tanzania before the end of this year.