Ndege News - March 2022

Page 14

REGIONAL AIR AT 25 YEARS

A Quarter of a Century of Aviation Success 1997 - 2022

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elson Mandela, the Nobel laureate and former South African President, flew in a three-year-old airline in 2000 during one of his trips to Tanzania. It was not just a matter of happenstance that the world-revered Mandela, who passed on in 2013, chose Regional Air. “Regional Air, just like its sister airlines, Airkenya and Aerolink, has a strict safety policy,” says Captain Hamza Mwapachu, the airline’s General Manager. It is this safety-first policy that has seen the airline serve dignitaries and A-list passengers over the years, including the former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, The President of Finland Mrs Tarja Kaarina Halonen, His Highness the Aga Khan and Sir David Attenborough. Humble beginnings Regional Air was the first airline to provide scheduled flights in the East African country of Tanzania. The airline started its operation in 1997 with one pilot, the Arusha-born Captain Iris McCallum, and one aircraft, a Piper PA31T3 T1040 Turboprop.

14 | NDEGE NEWS MARCH - MAY 2022

Years

& Beyond Transitioning from the skies to the office was an uphill task that Captain Iris was ready to take in her stride. That meant training under Anna Nzomo, the then Chief Reservations Officer at Airkenya, for the much-needed knowledge in airline operations. This extended to the operation of the Piper aircraft under the stewardship of Captain Geoff Price, the then Chief Pilot at Airkenya. Before joining Regional Air, she had briefly worked with Airkenya back in 1980, when she was awarded the Guinness Stout Effort Award for Bravery. "Whilst flying a Cessna 401, my left engine caught fire on the way to Bura in the Northern part of Kenya," Captain Iris explains the background of her award. She landed the aircraft on a murram road, and got all the passengers, herself included, out safely. She moved on to the humanitarian sector, flying for United Nations International Children's Emergency

Cpt. Hamza Mwapachu General Manager, Regional Air

Fund (UNICEF) and the International Red Cross. Teething Challenges The then-nascent airline’s initial team comprised heavyweights in Tanzania's aviation space. Captain Iris headed the team as the General Manager. She recruited Captain Fred Lawuo as the Chief Pilot, Captain Godfrey Mwella, and Captain Dave Smith, who also trained the ground staff. Brown Francis, who was working at the meteorology department in the airport, took on the role of Chief Operations. The team secured an office on the 7th floor of the International Arusha


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