Unguja. Several months after it was feared that workers for ground handling companies at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport would lose their jobs, it has come full circle with the first batch set to go home with effect from today, February 28, The Citizen has learnt.
This comes after the Labour Commission of Zanzibar approved the retrenchment of the workers after ground handlers complied with the commission’s demands.
“The labour commissioner has given you a go ahead to ahead with the retrenchment exercise at your institution. Please make sure that all due payments are made as required by the law,” reads the letter from the commissioner Mahammed Ali Salum.
This happens at a time when the opposition ACT Wazalendo says it was about time measures were taken against what it says were massive irregularities in the handling of a tender that gave exclusive rights to Dnata Zanzibar for ground handling operations at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA).
Speaking during a public rally here at the weekend, the ACT Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe said it was about time the Zanzibar Economic and Anti-Corruption Authority (Zaeca) intervened to probe those who are behind the local shares in the airport firm.
“Why should the Dubai investor be contracted at the airport without competition? Why should the government allow over 200 jobs to be lost that easily?” he enquired.
He added that by picking the Dubai firm single-handedly, the government was contravening with its own procurement laws that call for competition.
Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi last year defended the decision to award Dubai National Air Travel Agency (Dnata) a contract to operate ground handling services at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport Terminal 3, saying that all the due processes were followed.
Meanwhile, documents that The Citizen has seen show that several people have been shown the exit door by various ground handling companies but whose operations were subdued after Dnata was contracted.
“We were left with no choice. We had to cut our hands for the body to survive. So far we have had eight terminations after international airlines were ordered to sign with Dnata if they intend to use Terminal 3 building,” said an official of one of the ground handlers who preferred anonymity.
According to him following meetings with the Communication and Transport Workers Union of Tanzania (COTWU), they are now going to pay severance packages to those who have been affected by the exercise.
And, in another development, the Zanzibar Airports Authority (ZAA) has restricted the operations of the Zanzibar Aviation Services & Trade (ZAT), one of the ground handling companies, to terminal 2 as part of the effective implementation of the September 14, 2022, notice.
In a letter dated February 23 and signed by the acting Director General Seif Juma, the authority informed the ground handler that it was within their mandate to designate areas for the company to provide services.
“Kindly be informed, that the ZAA has designated your company to provide ground handling services at Terminal 2 only effective from March 3,unless informed otherwise by the authority,” reads part of the letter.
The letter also reminded the ground handlers that the only preferred service provider at Terminal 3 is Dnata Zanzibar as informed by the September 14 notice.
On September 14, the Zanzibar Airports Authority (ZAA) issued a directive which gave the Dubai based company exclusive access to the new terminal which was constructed at a cost of $120 million.
The order by ZAA, gave ground handling firms at the airport until December 1, 2022 to move from the newly constructed Terminal 3, instructing airlines to make arrangements to work with Dnata.
Several other steps followed the order which included the auditing of the ground handlers in October and a meeting with airlines to fast-track their transitions towards a new service provider.
Whereas the other two ground handlers were denied access to Terminal 3, Dnata on the other hand can still operate in Terminal 2 as well.
Share this news
This Year's Most Read News Stories
East African Community Bloc Dismisses Fake Common Currency
The secretariat of the East African Community (EAC) regional bloc has dismissed a post on X, formerly Twitter, which claimed that the bloc’s member countries have launched a common regional currency.Continue Reading
Air Tanzania Banned From EU Airspace Due to Safety Concerns
Several airports have since locked Air Tanzania, dealing a severe blow to the Tanzanian national carrier that must now work overtime to regain its certification or go the wet lease way
The European Commission has announced the inclusion of Air Tanzania on the EU Air Safety List, effectively banning the airline from operating in European airspace.
The decision, made public on December 16, 2024, is based on safety concerns identified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which also led to the denial of Air Tanzania’s application for a Third Country Operator (TCO) authorisation.
The Commission did not go into the specifics of the safety infringement but industry experts suggest it is possible that the airline could have flown its Airbus A220 well past its scheduled major checks, thus violating the airworthiness directives.
“The decision to include Air Tanzania in the EU Air Safety List underscores our unwavering commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards for passengers in Europe and worldwide,” said Apostolos Tzitzikostas, EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism.
“We strongly urge Air Tanzania to take swift and decisive action to address these safety issues. I have offered the Commission’s assistance to the Tanzanian authorities in enhancing Air Tanzania’s safety performance and achieving full compliance with international aviation standards.”
Air Tanzania has a mixed fleet of modern aircraft types including Boeing 787s, 737 Max jets, and Airbus A220s.
It has been flying the B787 Dreamliner to European destinations like Frankfurt in Germany and Athens in Greece and was looking to add London to its growing list with the A220.
But the ban not only scuppers the London dream but also has seen immediate ripple effect, with several airports – including regional like Kigali and continental – locking out Air Tanzania.
Tanzania operates KLM alongside the national carrier.
The European Commission said Air Tanzania may be permitted to exercise traffic rights by using wet-leased aircraft of an air carrier which is not subject to an operating ban, provided that the relevant safety standards are complied with.
A wet lease is where an airline pays to use an aircraft with a crew, fuel, and insurance all provided by the leasing company at a fee.
Two more to the list
The EU Air Safety List, maintained to ensure passenger safety, is updated periodically based on recommendations from the EU Air Safety Committee.
The latest revision, which followed a meeting of aviation safety experts in Brussels from November 19 to 21, 2024, now includes 129 airlines.
Of these, 100 are certified in 15 states where aviation oversight is deemed insufficient, and 29 are individual airlines with significant safety deficiencies.
Alongside Air Tanzania, other banned carriers include Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), Avior Airlines (Venezuela), and Iran Aseman Airlines (Iran).
Commenting on the broader implications of the list, Tzitzikostas stated, “Our priority remains the safety of every traveler who relies on air transport. We urge all affected airlines to take these bans seriously and work collaboratively with international bodies to resolve the identified issues.”
In a positive development, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been cleared to resume operations in the EU following a four-year suspension. The ban, which began in 2020, was lifted after substantial improvements in safety performance and oversight by PIA and the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA).
“Since the TCO Authorisation was suspended, PIA and PCAA have made remarkable progress in enhancing safety standards,” noted Tzitzikostas. “This demonstrates that safety issues can be resolved through determination and cooperation.”
Another Pakistani airline, Airblue Limited, has also received EASA’s TCO authorisation.
Decisions to include or exclude airlines from the EU Air Safety List are based on rigorous evaluations of international safety standards, particularly those established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The process involves thorough review and consultation among EU Member State aviation safety experts, with oversight from the European Commission and support from EASA.
“Where an airline currently on the list believes it complies with the required safety standards, it can request a reassessment,” explained Tzitzikostas. “Our goal is not to penalize but to ensure safety compliance globally.”
Airlines listed on the EU Air Safety List face significant challenges to their international operations, as the bans highlight shortcomings in safety oversight by their home regulatory authorities.
For Air Tanzania, this inclusion signals an urgent need for reform within Tanzania’s aviation sector to address these deficiencies and align with global standards.
The path forward will require immediate and sustained efforts to rectify safety concerns and regain access to one of the world’s most critical aviation markets.
Source: allafrica.com
‘No Marburg Confirmed In Tanzania’, But Mpox Remains ‘Public Health Emergency’
Monrovia — The Director General of the African Centers for Disease Control, Jean Kaseya, has said the center stands ready to support Tanzania and other countries in the region where suspected cases of the infectious Marburg Virus Disease have been identified. The World Health Organization earlier this week issued an alert warning of a possible outbreak in the country, although the Tanzanian Health Ministry has said tests conducted on available samples did not show the existence of Marburg in the East African nation.
“As of the 15 of January 2025, laboratory results from all suspected individuals were negative for Marburg Virus,” Tanzanian Health Minister Jenista Mhagama said in a statement. This would have marked the country’s second experience with the highly infectious disease that recently killed over a dozen people in neighboring Rwanda. Tanzania previously reported an outbreak of Marburg in 2023 in the Kegara region, said to have been the epicenter of the new suspected cases.
At the Africa CDC online briefing on Thursday, Kaseya also said another infectious disease, Mpox, “remains a public health concern”. He said that while in December 2024, the disease had afflicted 20 countries, a new country – Sierra Leone – has been added to the number after recent outbreak there. Sierra Leonean health authorities said on January 10 that two cases of Mpox had been confirmed in the country and dozens of contacts are being traced.
With thousands of confirmed cases of Mpox across Africa and more than 1000 people having died of the disease – mainly in Central Africa – Kaseya emphasized the need to increase testing, a theme he’s heralded before. The Africa CDC boss said over the next few months the continental health watchdog will deploy additional epidemiologists and community health workers to areas considered hot spots of infectious diseases in the region.
Source: allafrica.com
