By Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome, eTN Uganda
(eTN) - At the recently-concluded World Routes meeting in Abu
Dhabi, senior staff of new kid on the block, FastJet, told the media
that their first route will be from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, and is
supposed to be with three daily frequencies using an Airbus A319 with
about 150 seats in an all-economy configuration.
Flights on domestic routes between Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro and
Mwanza are expected to follow, before adding more destinations where an
A319 can land and where the expected traffic loads would allow
financially viable operations.
Aviation analysts are, however, doubtful how the model of a European
LCC can be transferred to Eastern Africa, where NO secondary airports
with substantially lower charges and handling fees are available to
bring costs down and where regulatory fees and taxes could be 10 times
as much as a once-floated fare of just US$20 per sector, preventing a
sharp rise in demand for air travel, which would be required to fill the
seats.
In addition, it seems the Tanzanian authorities are hell bent to get
Air Tanzania back into the air before FastJet commences operations,
cognizant of the fact that should yet another competitor enter the
market before ATCL flies once more, the start for the national airline
could be short lived and expensive.
“Our government speaks in two tongues,” said a regular source from
Dar es Salaam before adding, “They invite investors with big promises
and like you will see here, they will heavily subsidize Air Tanzania to
tile the market in their favor. Meanwhile they will tax the new airline
and make them spend money but at the same time compete through a
different arm of government. That is NOT what a free market economy is
supposed to be. These antiquated policies have harmed Precision Air and
others before, because it is difficult to compete with a company which
does not apparently need to make profits. OK, Precision is now too big
to outcompete and is reliable and offers good service, but with FastJet,
they have not started and will find not just Precision and Kenya
Airways to contend with but also now ATCL again.”
Too late now for sure for the new airline to re-consider as the
aircraft has reportedly been procured and flight operations are due to
start by November or at the latest early December, at which time ATCL
might well be back on the Nairobi route themselves, making a market
entry then a financially bloody battle for the newcomers.
Also, a regular aviation source from Dar es Salaam has passed on
information, that Fly 540 Tanzania will halt their operations from Dar
es Salaam to Kilimanjaro and Mwanza but also Zanzibar, effective
tomorrow, October 13 until further notice. The short notice is bound to
further unsettle travelers by air, burned in the past by no notice
withdrawals of service by Air Tanzania and the generally
less-than-optimal reputation of 540 will take another PR hit by the
sudden cancellation of flights with but 9 days notice, going by the date
attached to their announcement even if it only reached widely 2 days
ago.
Said the source: “540 is trying to explain that they are making room
for the new FastJet to begin operations. That is pure rubbish. You fly
your services to the last moment and then the new boys step in and take
over. Halting their flights, therefore, must have other reasons, and you
can guess what those are. Load factors will range high on my own list
for sure. From me it is good riddance to 540, they have not made any
real impact and their low-cost pretence never translated into low-cost
tickets. Let’s wait and see now when FastJet will actually start to fly
an A319 between Dar to Kilimanjaro and then Mwanza considering the
capacity already on the route by Precision and now ATCL returning to
these destinations also. They will find out soon what flying in this
part of the world is all about.”