Let’s make criticism not for its sake

While ambition is something usually hard to achieve for which you very much yearn, optimism is a tendency to be hopeful and expect that good things may happen latter.

While all these terms can be useful, an optimistic person can play an effective role for a gradual process in achieving goals and objectives than an ambitious individual.

It is equally true that an investor becomes optimistic of the future of an ailing company he has just injected money. So we can justifiably say that the government is optimistic about the future of an ailing national carrier, Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL).

That optimism would be realized with significant investments the government is making in revamping the airline, including acquisition of new aircraft for domestic, regional and international destinations.

Airline is a fragile industry that can only prosper with strategic plans. We have witnessed many global carriers collapsing due to mismanagement; hence, learning from very few African success stories like Ethiopian Airline and the new player, Rwandair.

By mid 2018, the government would acquire the 242-passenger Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at a cost of $224.6m. This would add the Air Tanzania fleet to six aircrafts, including the already operating two Bombardier Q400 aircraft costing $62m, two Bombardier C300 jetliners and one more Q400 with a combined cost of $203m.

So we must as well be careful with ‘experts’ with regard to government initiative on revamping the airline. On the proposed acquisition of Dreamliner, experts were quoted as saying the government move was too risky to operate international routes with a single aircraft and voiced their views for two more.

While their views deserve an attention, looking at the acquisition cost and the national objectives, the experts are being too ambitious.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American long-haul, mid-size widebody, twin-engine jet airliner made by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Its variants seat 242 to 335 passengers in typical three-class seating configurations.

It is Boeing's most fuel-efficient airliner and is a pioneering airliner with the use of composite materials as the primary material in the construction of its airframe. The Boeing 787 was designed to be 20 per cent more fuel-efficient than the Boeing 767, its earlier intended replacement.

In all its purchases, the government has ensured fuel-efficiency as criteria number one to serve both local and international destinations. For all these considered initiatives, the government is obviously optimistic of the future of the national carrier. This is against endless criticisms on the type of planes.

Air Tanzania with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is set to serve distant international routes of China and the United States of America. The government has described the two countries with great tourism potential, whereas for China, even trade growth is significant.

Therefore, we thought that our experts should offer their expertise on how to grow faster with the available means instead of upsetting the initiatives failed by previous regimes.

Risk management is not calculated on the number of flights. It is rather considered on risky events sometimes not attached to the internal settings of involved airline.

Malaysia Airlines halted its international operations to give way for investigations and re-organization not because it had no fleet but due to the fact that it was hit by two deadly crashes within a short span.

On March 8, 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777-200ER registered 9M-MRO carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. All 239 people on board perished.

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777-200ER – registered 9M-MRD – en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot down over Ukraine by a missile killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members aboard.

By the way, Air Tanzania would not be the first company to fly international destinations on a single plane. Many global carriers started with such strategic initiatives leading to more fleet on commercial grounds.

For instance, on February 5, 2017, Qatar Airways will begin nonstop flights between Doha and Auckland. The flight will cover 14,535 kilometres and will be operated by Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

In March 2018, Qantas will begin nonstop flights between Perth and London using Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The flight will cover 14,499 kilometres (7,829 nmi) and last about 17 hours.

This tells us that we have to learn to manage what we have at the moment rather than showing our expertise on criticizing what others have dared to do. We can only succeed if we offer constructive criticism that gives alternative modes of how we can manage the meager resources we have privileged to have.