Tourism Sector: Julian Edmunds Discusses Aviation Services in Tanzania

Julian Edmunds, Managing Director at Coastal Aviation, talks about the evolution of aviation services in Tanzania.

“We started in 1988 with one Cessna 206, which is a five-passenger seat aircraft, and now Coastal has 20 Cessna Grand Caravans, with 13 seats, and four Pilatus PC12, which are pressurized nine-seat commuter aircrafts. Still, we are adding two more in order to have a fleet of 26 aircrafts. Back in those days, there were three more companies of aviation services, and now there are probably 12 similar companies, in varied sizes. The second biggest company now has 13 Caravans. Each one of these airplanes is worth US$ 2,6 million, so it is quite a feasible investment. We were the first company to bring a Cessna Grand Caravan to Tanzania, in the late nineties. There are now 70 of them in the country. So there was big growth, in some ways, too much of it. At the moment, the supply of seats is probably outstripping the demand for tours, so there is quite a lot of overcapacity, what is causing little price wars. But the scenario is pretty good. The big problem is that it is a very seasonal activity. In July and August we are frantic, but in other times of the year companies often got lot of capital, equipment and pilots sitting on the ground. And you still got to pay them through the year”, says Julian Edmunds.