Tanzania airspace is safe-TCAA allays fear
TANZANIA: THE Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) has allayed fears over reported rumour that Arusha and Kilimanjaro are set to experience volcanic eruption that will affect operations at Arusha Airport and Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
“Let me assure operators in the aviation sector and consumers of the services that our airspace is safe and there is no any possible volcanic eruption in those regions,” stated Mr Hamza Johari, TCAA’s Director General.
He further dismissed claims that the KIA was facing a blackout, hence causing planes to fail to land at the airport. Mr Johari was prompted to make clarification on Thursday in response to the circulated rumours on social media over both volcanic eruption and power blackout.
He said at KIA the power was temporally cut off on Tuesday this week to implement an ongoing project involving the improvement of airfield lighting by installing the new lighting system and replacing the old ones.
“We are forced to clarify on the matters because these things have caused panic, some operators even called me to express their fear. “I urge social media users and the general public at large to seek correct information from the authorities so as to avoid giving misinformation on aviation sector because such information causes unnecessary panic and affects tourism sector,” he stated.
His statement came barely a day after the Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company Limited (KADCO) also issued statement to allay the fear.
In its statement released on Wednesday, the KADCO management said the temporary power outage at the facility which occurred on Tuesday this week, was due to the ongoing project to install new airfield lighting system implemented by a contractor called CEGI Group from Spain. KADCO Managing Director Christine Mwakatobe said the situation was temporary and lasted for three hours.
Ms Mwakatobe also said that the project involves replacing the whole old airfield lighting system with the modern one.
The aim is to have permanent solution to reliable lighting at the airport. The report over power cut at the KIA started circulating on social media on Tuesday night, indicating that the KLM plane failed to land because of the power challenge.
The management of the KADCO, therefore, apologised to all passengers following the inconveniences caused.
