Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
11 May 2011
PRECISIONAir has started reaping the benefits of investing in young Tanzanian trained pilots that were sponsored by the company.
The company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Ms Annette Nkini, said in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that four young Tanzanians in the area of avionics engineering and piloting have been sponsored for training which started in 2007 to the tune of 154,857 USD (about 232.28m./-).
“This is part of our policy of identifying and developing local talent and today we are very happy with the results,” said Ms Nkini on Wednesday.
The four sponsored candidates trained from scratch are Mr Oscar Mashallah, Ms Khadija Sheikh, Mr Mohamed Mongesanga and Ms Epifania Jacob, who were picked from over 100 applicants.
She said that the pilots started flying in August last year after undergoing ATR type rating in Malaysia. “The four new pilots have significantly boosted our cockpit crew capacity” added Nkini.
As part of its ATR deal that saw the company purchase seven brand new ATR aircraft, PrecisionAir signed an agreement that would tie in the training of four pilots and eight engineers by the Toulouse based aircraft manufacturer.
She said that four candidates were taken to France and thereafter South Africa and Malaysia for a fully funded company training. Ms Nkini added that training was done in South Africa over a 15-month period.
She said the sponsorship is a win-win situation for both parties as the company Air can use the services of the young Tanzanians who are not only pilots but also trained as technicians.
“Given the fact that the average age of the pilots is only 25 years they will be able to serve the company for many years to come,” she said.
She said that many young Tanzanians do not realize their dream of becoming pilots because the training is very expensive for a common family to afford.
On average, she said it costs 40,000 USD (about 60m/-) to train for a pilot’s license on top of other related expenses.
“I always wanted to become a pilot but as you know there are no opportunities available and so I was very happy when I was selected for the sponsorship,” said Mr Oscar Mashallah, one the beneficiaries of the sponsorship.
The 25-year old pilot was a first year Information Communications Technology Management student at Mzumbe University when he got the sponsorship from PrecisionAir. Mr Mashallah’s sentiments are echoed by Ms Khadija Sheikh, another beneficiary of the sponsorship.
“The company should continue such a programme like ours. There there are so many young Tanzanians with so much passion and potential for this career, only that it’s impossible for many to pursue it due to the financial constraints,” she said. “It will be a dream come true for so many and I’m sure it will be a good investment for the company. It was truly my dream come true when I acquired the scholarship,” the young pilot echoed.
PrecisionAir has the largest local and regional network comprising Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Mwanza, Kigoma, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga and Mtwara. Regionally the airline flies to Nairobi, Mombasa (Kenya) and Entebbe in Uganda.
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