Tanzanian operator Auric Air Services has experienced challenging times since the beginning of the first quarter of 2020. “For this year, our expectation was for the situation to normalise by the second quarter, but unfortunately the second wave then the third wave and so forth kept impacting tourist arrivals to East Africa,” reveals company representative Deepesh Gupta. “Considering the worldwide situation, we have managed to stay afloat without losing a single employee. The situation hasn’t been worse than expected.”

Auric currently operates one of the youngest fleets of Cessna Grand Caravan in sub-Saharan Africa: 15 Cessna Grand Caravans and one Dash 8, with an additional factory-new Caravan joining the fleet during the second quarter of 2022. Gupta says a second Dash 8 is also being considered.

He continues: “Reliability and consistency have been the keys to getting us through. Auric Air Services continued serving its network without cancelling any flights. We significantly reduced frequencies, however, we didn’t cancel any flights. 2021 is almost over, and we really hope for a return to normality in the near future; we anticipate that tourism will grow once again. As was stated in a recent article in the Financial Times, more people have come to appreciate the significance of leisure travel over luxury items. More and more people voted to opt for travel experience over purchasing luxury items.”