According to The East African, KQ will sell off 15% of its stake in Precision Air on the DSE & NSE...

This should give KQ some cash... Will KQ distribute it to us? Or will it simply keep it?

It seems Precision Air is fighting a battle to become the official National Airline of Tanzania...

I think Precisionair is short of cash and now they are looking for other means to get funds, half of their ATR fleet is down due to maintenance or awaiting spares.

Kenya Airways has a say 100% on PA , they have a leased B737 and KQ does not allow them to use it anywhere else except use it on KQ flights of DAR to/from NBO.

PA wanted to start to Luanda and JOburg, they were told not to do so.

PA should never be a national airline , otherwise it's like saying Kenya Airways is a national airline of Tanzania and Kenya

@vvs, I think the minimum one can offload of a company on the bourse is 20%. KQ owns 49% of PW, so if they offload 20% they remain with 29%. But this will be cash for KQ, not PW, unless KQ and the other shareholder agree to create new shares for the market, which is the best route to raise cash for PW operations.
KQ reducing its stake is OK as long as they can still take advantage of PW as a feeder airline. They might also loose management control - out goes Kioko the MD and what does this portend for PW?
Im not aware of the ATRs being grounded, what I suspect is they are replacing the ATR42 with the ATR70.
On a side note, ATC (the Tanzanian national airline) has broken off with some chinese investors. Remember they previously broke off with SAA. And they are now tying up with Air Zim, a case of two dying horses going to the grave together? They should never have refused the tie up with KQ - remember it is after that debacle that KQ bought into PW and see where PW now is....(I have seen PA grow. As a regular on the Mwanza route I started off with a LET410, now they deploy the Embraer on that route)

@GG - If PW wanted to raise cash then they should have had a pure IPO/new issue... I think the IPO (or Offer For Sale) is to 'force' the TZ government to make PW a 'national airline' for additional routes esp Luanda & S.Africa...

TZ has insisted on keeping a defunct ATC as the national airline. Stupid pride. Or corrupt. Probably both then some!

The 15% is from The East African. It might be listed on DSE then cross-listed on NSE. We will have to wait to get details.

Bw. Shirima is a big shot lakini he might have run into headwinds. He controls the group that owns 51%. Did you know he is also a shareholder in CF Union Bank (50% owned by I&M Bank) thus getting loans for buying aircraft is easy because of Proparco.

@tony - Never used coastal aviation but PW has far more extensive network.

It has been denied operation as a 'international' airline. The DSM-NBO flights are run by PW but using KQ's rights...

@tonystark - http://www.coastal.cc/uploads/flight_schedule.pdf I cant even get the schedule. Is this Coastal Aviation a serious airline?

Seems like a decent operation but a localized operation more like a charter airline...

How many aircraft does it have?
Which?

@tonystark - LOLest... "my main source of information is VVS"

I got it from The East African [Front page headline] so I am not qualified to say! The info I have is from an interview/meeting in Dar I had + KQ's Annual Report + PW's website...

Hmmm... I wonder if it makes sense for me to go to Arusha by road then fly to Dar? The cost (taxes) from NBO-DSM are KRAZY!

How many hours by bus from Nairobi - Arusha?

Well KQ and Precision prefer corporate clients. They were quoting 480 usd for dar nairobi ... best offer and that was 3 weeks in advance. Fly 540 were quoting 450$ return but that was to Zanzibar if you wanted to go to Dar i think you would have to add another 150$.
It cheaper or the same price to go to UK than fly to TZ.... seriously.
Arusha is 3.5 hours away so not too bad and had to get some work done there anyway. Bus to dar is 15 hours bus ride if all goes well and can easily end up being 20 hours due to the weigh bridges in tanzania and spoilt trucks on the hills.
Coastal aviation cost 300,000K return. less than 20K Ksh. The long and short of it is that it was worth it.
I know my rants should be directed to the governments charging ridiculous Taxes on "international" flights from "Africa".

@VVS,Why exactly cant the Ryan Air models work in Africa and What happened to KQ pink flamingo airlines low cost carrier?

Hmmm... I will look into the Arusha option... coz the NBO-DAR is krazy as you say...

Zanzibar is nice but 2 hours by fast boat to DSM. Also as Kenyan I have to pay 'extra'... pisses me off coz no East African discount!

"The deal, which will see Kenya Airways sell 15 per cent of the 49 per cent stake it holds in PrecisionAir to investors in Tanzania by the end of the year." This IPO is not for kenyans...