Tanzania, Oman sign deal to review BASA

DAR ES SALAAM: THE government yesterday signed a new Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with the Sultanate of Oman for the development of aviation industry of the two countries.

Minister for Transport Prof Makame Mbarawa said yesterday that a previous agreement between Tanzania and Oman was signed in May 1982.

“This necessitated the need for our countries to set pace for review of the existing BASA by taking onboard the policy, technological advancement and economic changes,” he said.

The reviewed BASA will enable aviation players to focus on several areas of collaboration including efforts to promotion of travel and tourism, data sharing and analytics and airport infrastructure usage.

Others are training and capacity building, innovation and technology, emergency response and crisis management, and enhancement of customer service for passengers.

Additionally, the agreement has embodied the principal place of business and effective regulatory control for airlines designation, authorisation for non-discriminatory airline selfhandling, cooperation among airlines.

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It opens consultations between contracting parties and unlimited frequencies between the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA) and Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) well as Muscat International Airport (MCT), Salalah International Airport (SLL) and Sohar International Airport (OHS) in the Sultanate of Oman.

“These features make our BASA to be flexible and business oriented which in turn will give out unparalleled benefit to aviation stakeholders by expanding air transport markets and operations,” he added.

The increase in direct flights between JNIA, AAKIA and KIA and MCT, SLL and OHS will intensify the number of tourists in Tanzania coming from Asia, Europe and the rest of the world through the airline networks and connections.

“While we are vesting our commitment to Air Tanzania Company Limited to starting direct flights to Oman in a near future, we are also urging Oman Air to increase direct flights from Oman to Tanzania,” he said.

The Oman Civil Aviation Authority President Eng Naif Bin Hamed Al-Abri said the bilateral air service between Tanzania and Oman has been positive and the revise signing will keep bolstering.

“The agreement will provide a legal framework for the airlines between the two countries and opening a new chapter of air services between the economies of both sides,” said Eng Naif.

Equally, the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA)’s Acting Director General Mr Daniel Malanga said the revised BASA is more liberal compared to the previous.

“This agreement will increase airlines frequencies of the two countries from fourteen that we agreed in the previous BASA to unlimited frequencies,” he said.

He added that the expired contract did not allow joint cooperation between airlines, but the currently BASA allows the inability ones to join hands to provide services.