DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa announced Monday that the East African nation has been ranked the fourth in aviation safety in Africa after Nigeria, Kenya, and Cote d'Ivoire.
Majaliwa said Tanzania scooped 86.7 percentage points in an assessment conducted in May 2023 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
"This is a testimony that our country's efforts to reinforce aviation safety are paying dividends," said Majaliwa when he opened the 20th anniversary of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) in Dar es Salaam, the business hub of Tanzania.
He said Tanzania ranked fourth in aviation safety after ICAO aviation experts had inspected the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Kilimanjaro region, the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, and the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport in Zanzibar.
According to ICAO, Tanzania's aviation safety had been rising from 37.8 percent in 2013, 69.04 percent in 2019 to 86.7 percent in 2023.
Due to its rising aviation safety, Tanzania has been recording the rising number of air passengers using its airports, said Majaliwa, explaining that the number of passengers went up from 1,662,452 in 2003 to 4,614,380 by Sept. 2023. And air cargo increased from 33,255 tonnes in 2003 to 55,806 tonnes by Sept. 2023. ■