Precision Air Services Plc (operating as Precision Air;
DSE:PAL) is a
Tanzanian airline based at
Julius Nyerere International Airport in
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...
. The airline operates scheduled passenger services to
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ...
,
Entebbe
Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. Th ...
, and to various airports and airstrips throughout Tanzania.
History
Precision Air was incorporated in Tanzania in January 1991 as a private airline and started operations in 1993.
At first, it operated as a private charter air transport company but in November 1993 changed to offer scheduled services to serve the growing tourist market.
In 2006, Precision Air became the first Tanzanian airline to pass the
IATA Operational Safety Audit.
In April 2011, the airline became a public company.
Corporate affairs
Ownership
Precision Air was privately owned until 2003, when
Kenya Airways acquired a 49 percent stake, paying US$2 million, weeks after its rival
South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA) is the flag carrier airline of South Africa. Founded in 1934, the airline is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and operated a hub-and-spoke network, serving ten dest ...
acquired a 49 percent stake in
Air Tanzania
Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) ( sw, Kampuni ya Ndege ya Tanzania) is the flag carrier airline of Tanzania based in Dar es Salaam with its hub at Julius Nyerere International Airport.
It was established as Air Tanzania Corporation (A ...
for US$20 million. The remaining 51 percent was retained by
Michael Shirima, the founder of the airline.
In October 2011, Precision Air floated shares in its stock in an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...
on the
Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange
The Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) is a stock exchange located on Ohio Street, west of Kivukoni, south east of Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital and largest city in Tanzania. It was incorporated in September 1996 and trading started ...
, after which Shirima's and Kenya Airways's stakes declined and the new share subscribers owned 15.86 percent. As of 31 March 2016, the major shareholders were:
Business trends
Because it was a private company until 2011, published figures were not generally available before the initial public offering prospectus
of 12 September 2011. Since then, full Annual Reports and Accounts have been published. (, however, those for 2019 and 2020 are still awaited.)
Available trends over recent years for the Precision Air group (Precision Air Services Plc and its subsidiaries Precision Handling Limited and Precise Systems Limited) (as at year ending 31 March) are:
Published reports in June 2013 indicated that Precision Air had encountered substantial financial difficulties, stemming in part from losses incurred while operating flights to and from Johannesburg, South Africa. Those flights ended in September 2012. ''The Citizen'', a Tanzanian newspaper, reported in August 2013 that the airline "desperately" needed a US$32 million bailout package from the Tanzanian government or other non-shareholder sources.
The airline's problems increased in 2011 when it received only US$7.4 million of the US$17.5 million in cash that the airline hoped to receive when first listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.
Increasing fuel prices, taxes, and levies plus currency fluctuations and the refusal of minority owner Kenya Airways to contribute capital had also hurt the airline.
Destinations
As of May 2019, the airline served the following 14 locations:
Partnerships
Codeshare agreements
Precision Air has
codeshare agreements with the following four airlines:
#
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways ( ar, شَرِكَة ٱلْاِتِّحَاد لِلطَّيْرَان, sharikat al-ittiḥād li-ṭ-ṭayarān) is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa ...
(
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...
-Dar es Salaam)
# Kenya Airways (various routes)
#
LAM Mozambique Airlines
LAM - Mozambique Airlines, S. A. (LAM - Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, S. A.) or Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, Ltd., operating as LAM Mozambique Airlines ( pt, LAM Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique), is the flag carrier of Mozambique. The airlin ...
(
Maputo
Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,0 ...
–
Nampula–
Pemba–Dar es Salaam)
#
RwandAir
RwandAir Limited is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda. It operates domestic and international services to East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, from its main base at Kigali International Ai ...
(
Kigali
Kigali () is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwanda's economic, cult ...
–
Kilimanjaro)
Interline agreements
In 2011, Precision Air entered into an
interline agreement with
Qatar Airways, allowing the latter's passengers to connect to other east African destinations such as
Arusha
Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census).
Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern bran ...
and
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...
via Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro International Airport. This agreement includes e-ticketing.
As of 23 December 2014, Precision Air also had 21 interline agreements for baggage and paper ticketing purposes with the following airlines:
#
Air Seychelles
Air Seychelles is the national airline of the Republic of Seychelles. Its head office is located at Seychelles International Airport on the island of Mahé and it operates inter-island and international flights and charter flights.
History
Es ...
(also e-ticketing)
#
Alitalia
#
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport.
The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...
(also e-ticketing)
#
Egyptair
Egyptair (Egyptian Arabic: , ') is the state-owned flag carrier of Egypt. The airline is headquartered at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to 81 destinations in the Middle East, Europe ...
#
Emirates
Emirates may refer to:
* United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country
* Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir
** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf
** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates
* The Emirat ...
#
Ethiopian Airlines (also e-ticketing)
# Etihad Airways
#
Gulf Air
#
Hahn Air (also e-ticketing)
#
Heli Air Monaco
# Kenya Airways (also e-ticketing)
#
KLM
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
(also e-ticketing)
# LAM Mozambique Airlines (also e-ticketing)
#
Oman Air
Oman Air ( ar, الطيران العماني) is the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman. Based at Muscat International Airport in Seeb, Muscat, it operates domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi a ...
# RwandAir
#
Saudia
Saudia ( ar, السعودية '), formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines (), is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah. The airline's main operational base is at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. King Khalid Int ...
#
SN Brussels Airlines
SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA) was the national airline of Belgium, which mainly operated from Brussels Airport. SNBA was the trading name of the Belgian airline Delta Air Transport. SNBA was a full-service airline, connecting Brussels with the ...
# South African Airways (also e-ticketing)
#
Swiss International Air Lines
#
TAAG Angola Airlines (also e-ticketing)
#
Virgin Atlantic (also e-ticketing)
[Travel Information, Expert Flyer, accessed 23 December 2014, subscription service](_blank)
/ref>
Fleet
Current fleet
As of November 2022, the Precision Air fleet included the following aircraft:
Historical fleet
The airline has previously operated the following aircraft:
# ATR 42-320
# Boeing 737–300
# Bombardier Dash 8
The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...
Accidents and incidents
According to the Aviation Safety Network Precision Air has had seven accidents or incidents. One of those caused 19 fatalities.
* 26 July 1999: A Let L-410UVP-E9, tail number 5H-PAB, made a belly landing
A belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device. Normally the term ''gear-up landing'' refers to incidents in which the pilot ...
at Arusha Airport on a training flight while doing a touch and go landing. The two crew and three passengers were not injured.
* 16 November 2004: A Let L-410UVP-E20
The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of landing on short a ...
, tail number 5H-PAC, crash landed while on a training flight at Kilimanjaro Airport. The two pilots, who had not put on their shoulder straps, sustained facial injuries.
* 8 July 2007: An ATR 72–212, tail number 5H-PAR, had a runway excursion on landing at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport runway 06. It veered to the right, went over a ditch, and came to a stop on Taxiway F. The nose wheel collapsed. The four crew and 62 passengers were not injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The probable cause of this accident was power asymmetry during application of reverse thrust on landing. The control levers were jammed in one position.
* On 13 December 2013, an ATR 42–600 (5H–PWI) made a safe landing at Arusha Airport after its four tires deflated upon landing. All 37 passengers and 4 crew were safe. The airline subsequently explained that higher braking forces, necessitated by the aircraft landing with a tailwind, caused the deflations.
* 10 July 2014: An ATR 72–500, tail number 5H-PWA, was halfway to Dar es Salaam from Mwanza during normal cruise when the number 2 engine seized. This necessitated a diversion to Kilimanjaro International Airport. The aircraft touched down normally; however, after selecting ground idle (as per the captain's explanation), the aircraft veered to the left and exited the runway hitting one of the runway edge lights and proceeded to roll on the grass field parallel to runway 09 for approximately 180 meters before subsequently regaining the runway. No injuries were reported.
* 9 December 2018 Flight PW 722 with 68 passengers from Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ...
to Mwanza
Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest c ...
via Kilimanjaro had multiple birdstrikes on approach, including on the wheels that caused difficulties on landing.
* 6 November 2022: Precision Air Flight 494
Precision Air Flight 494 (PW494) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight within Tanzania, from Julius Nyerere International Airport to Bukoba Airport via Mwanza Airport. On 6 November 2022, the ATR 42–500 plane crashed in Lake Victoria wh ...
, an ATR 42-500 (5H-PWF) with 39 passengers and 4 crew crashed in Lake Victoria while landing at Bukoba Airport
Bukoba Airport is a domestic airport located in the city of Bukoba, the capital of the Kagera Region in northwest Tanzania. It is adjacent to Lake Victoria.
The Bukoba non-directional beacon (Ident: BK) is located on the field.
A new asphalt ...
, Tanzania. There were 19 deaths. It was the first fatal accident in the airline's history.
References
External links
*
{{Commercial air travel
Airlines of Tanzania
Airlines established in 1991
1991 establishments in Tanzania
Tanzanian brands