Precision to launch aircraft.

20-June-2007: Precision Air, Kenya Airways’s Tanzanian subsidiary, will introduce a new Boeing aircraft by the end of the month as it moves to scale up its presence in the African airspace and beyond. The Boeing 737-200 series jet is being bought as part of a $100 million fleet modernisation deal signed last August. The jet will serve regional long haul flights to Johannesburg, Comoros and Dubai, pushing the airline into the Middle East. The modernisation plan will also see Precision acquire an additional seven new turboprop airplanes between 2008 and 2010.The jets include four 66-seat ATR 72-500s and three smaller ATR 42-500s that seat 47 each. “Once the seven are delivered, Precision Air will boast of having the youngest fleet of aircraft in Africa, customer safety, comfort and reliability,” said Mr Alfonse Kioko, the managing director and CEO of Precision.The firm recorded 27 per cent growth in passenger numbers for the past two years, reaching 425,000 in 2006/2007, Mr Kioko said. “The projection in the airline’s current financial year, which starts in April, is to uplift about 500,000 passengers, equivalent to a 15 per cent increase,” said Precision board chairman Michael Mrishima.The bigger and faster jets will replace the airline’s current eight aircraft. The largest Tanzanian airline, Precision covers 11 domestic routes. It also offers two daily flights to Nairobi, Entebbe in Uganda, and Pemba island off Mozambique, giving it the largest area of coverage in east and central Africa after Kenya Airways.

Written by Zeddy Sambu - Business Daily Africa -Nairobi

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