Govt defends outright purchases of aircrafts

HENRY LYIMO

THE government saved 15 million US dollars as discount when it made outright purchases of two Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplanes from Canadian manufacturer instead of paying in installments, a cabinet minister has said.

Prof Makame Mbarawa, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, said by paying in cash, the government paid 23.5 million US dollar for each instead of 31.0 million US dollars if it had chosen another payment modality.

“In outright purchases you will not pay interest rates and in addition you get more bargaining powers,” he said during a live telecast by Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) on Monday where he described as baseless claims that the government made wasteful spending by paying in cash during the purchases of the two aircrafts expected in the country next month.

He said the decision to pay the money upfront was taken after weighing its benefits against those of other payment modalities “No research no right to speak and for this matter you don’t need a thorough research. You can just google,” he said.

Prof Mbarawa also defended the choice of Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplanes saying they have proved to be more economical for short trips like regional routes in Tanzania because they have lower fuel consumption and can operate from shorter runways than jet engine aircrafts.

According to him, the new aircrafts were superior on short-haul flights compared to jet engine aircrafts and were therefore more ideal for regional routes which are usually short and where there are small airports, low traffic density routes, and the challenging running ways.

Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplanes required only 1.45 kilometre long runway for take-off and landing compared to jet engine aircrafts which require a runway of a minimum of 2.09 kilometres, he said.

On fuel use, the Bombardier Q400 turboprop airplanes were more economical as they use 1.7 tonnes of fuel for a one-way trip to say Mwanza compared to 3.7 tonnes of fuel per for a similar trip by jet engine aircrafts, he said.

Prof Mbarawa said the Q400 aircrafts have a cruising speed close to that of most jet engine aircrafts whereas while an Airbus takes 1 hour and 10 minutes to Mwanza, the Q400 would take 1 hour and 35 minutes and an ATR 2 hours.

According to Prof Mbarawa, the time spent on taxiing, takeoff and landing virtually eliminates a competing jet’s speed advantage.

The turboprop aircraft have the lowest cost per passenger than its rivals and aircraft break even with about 1/3 of its seats filled making it particularly attractive on routes with varying passenger numbers where many seats would be empty on some flights.

For a 76-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft can break even with only 26 passengers which is about 1/3 of seats filled while for a 124-seat Airbus you break even with 76 passengers,” he said.