Tanzania to establish state-of-the-art civil aviation training centre

ARUSHA: THE Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) is set to announce a tender for the construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Aviation Training Centre (CATC) before the end of this month.

The announcement was made by the Principal of CATC, Mr Aristid Kanje, while briefing the Minister for Transport, Professor Makame Mbarawa, at the 17th Joint Transport Sector Review in Arusha recently.

Mr Kanje assured the minister that all preparations are in place and the tender for the construction of the centre will be released before the end of November.

The estimated cost of the CATC project is 34.6 million US dollars (about 78.07bn/- VAT included).
The project is expected to be completed over three years, beginning in the 2023/24 financial year and concluding in 2025/26. Once finished, the centre will be the premier aviation training facility in Africa.

“Our goal in implementing this project is to address the shortage of skilled aviation professionals in the country,” said Mr Kanje.

“The centre will train experts in critical areas such as air traffic management, aeronautical information management, communication, navigation and surveillance, aviation security, airport operations, train-the-trainer programmes and aviation management.”

Mr Kanje also highlighted the growing demand for aviation training in Tanzania, noting that the number of students enrolled at CATC has increased significantly from between 400 and 500 students in 2016/17 to more than 2,500 students today.

The new facility will include two executive hostels and three standard hostels for students, along with classrooms, administrative and academic blocks, restaurants and conference and training facilities.

In addition, TCAA Director General Mr Salim Msangi pointed out that the CATC has earned recognition from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as an Aviation Security Training Centre (ASTC–Dar es Salaam), one of only nine such centres in Africa and 35 worldwide.

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Mr Msangi also highlighted several achievements of TCAA, including successful safety audits and the implementation of updated safety management systems. In the latest ICAO aviation security audit (USAP CMA) conducted in May 2023, Tanzania ranked fourth in Africa with an impressive score of 86.9 per cent.

The TCAA has also seen significant growth in the aviation sector, with the number of air service operators rising from 29 in 2016 to 53 in 2024.

Tanzania has also signed Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs) with 85 countries, though currently, airlines from 17 of those countries are actively operating flights to Tanzania.
Mr Msangi concluded by noting that Tanzania is currently served by 24 international airlines.