Dar es Salaam. Swissport Tanzania has bounced back to profitability, a development showing that the aviation industry is recovering steadily from the impact of Covid-induced travel restrictions.
The company announced yesterday that it registered a modest net profit of Sh174 million during the first half of the 2021 calendar year.
However, it was a massive improvement from a loss of Sh1.128 billion the firm registered during the first half of 2020.
The firm’s total revenues rose by 10 percent to Sh14.2 billion.
“The cargo business has fully recovered from the impact of Covid-19 and we envisage a stable performance for the remainder of the year,” said Swissport’s board chairman, Mr Jeroen de Clercq.
He said the rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations, and the relaxation of travel restrictions around the globe had positively impacted the recovery of the ground handling business, which is now operating at 71 percent of the pre-Covid 19 volumes, adding that he expected the recovery rate to remain constant to the end of the year.
“All our airline customers have resumed operations, albeit with fewer frequencies, and most have now redeployed the larger aircraft types that were in use before Covid,” said Mr de Clercq.
Passenger traffic
Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA) director general Julius Ndyamukama told The Citizen yesterday that in the first half of this year, airports managed by the authority handled passenger volumes of between 60 and 65 percent of the pre-Covid levels.
This is a sharp rise from an average of 20 percent handled during last year’s corresponding period.
Mr Ndyamukama attributed the improvement to growing confidence among air travellers that has been triggered by the worldwide Covid-19 vaccination rollout.
“If the momentum will keep going, full recovery could come sooner than expected,” he said. “Yes, we can. The figures speak for themselves.”
Precision Air chief executive Patrick Mwanri said between April and June last year, the airline’s performance in terms of passengers was 82 percent less compared to a similar period in 2019 (pre-Covid).
But during the same months this year, performance improved to around 45 percent of to the same period in 2019.
In terms of revenue, the airline was between Apri l and June this year operating at 40 percent less compared to the same period in 2019.
This is an improvement compared to the same period last year when the airline was operating at 89 percent less compared to 2019.
An aviation expert, Mr John Njawa, said it may be too early to expect the industry to return to pre-pandemic status before summer 2024.
However, he said, if the global position accepts to live with the disease and move on, the sector may see a quicker bounce back.
The coronavirus crisis, whose first case in Tanzania was confirmed in Mid-March of 2020, has brought the aviation industry to its knees, affecting most parts of the supply chain, including, airlines, ground handling companies and airports.
Drop of 50 percent
The latest Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) report shows that passenger traffic suffered a dramatic 50 percent drop in passenger traffic last year compared to 2019.
An estimated 2.8 million passengers took flights in 2020, the lowest number since 2011 when 2.5 million took to the air. However, ground handlers were not that much affected because airlines diversified into cargo operations to ensure utility of aircraft and revenue.
Going by the TCAA report, last year’s cargo volume decreased by 17.66 percent to 21,907 tonnes.
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