JNIA proves capable to handle biggest airliners

An Emirates Airline flight with 503 passengers and crew was on Tuesday diverted to JNIA in Dar es Salaam after it failed to land in Mauritius due to bad weather. Airbus A380, a doubledeck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by European manufacturer Airbus is the world's largest passenger airliner.

An aviation expert said the landing of the Emirates airliner was testimony that JNIA, the largest and the busiest international airport in Tanzania, had the capacity to handle world's largest airliner in terms of infrastructure at the airport and could manage logistics involving handling of such airliners.

His remarks were echoed by Aviation Operations Manager of Oil Marketer, Puma Energy Tanzania, Mr Raymond Tungaraza whose company provided fuel to the wide-body superjumbo.

He said Puma Energy had proved its technical capacity to meet fuel needs of the big aircraft that land at JNIA, as witnessed by the refuelling the Emirates Airbus A380 jet airliner.

“The capacity to efficiently refuel the largest aircraft in the world like we did on Tuesday will attract other airlines to consider operating the Dar es Salaam route, especially at this time when the government is streamlining the aviation sector where Puma Energy is a strong player,” said Mr Tungaraza.

The company recently completed the extension of an existing hydrant jet fuel hydrant system at the JNIA, that would easily meet demand for Aviation fuel supply that is expected to grow once the expansion of JNIA’s Terminal Three is complete and put in use.

The hydrant system came in handy on Tuesday this week, when Puma Energy was called upon to refuel an Emirates Airbus A380 jetliner, he said. The company’s JNIA Depot Manager, Mr Mohammed Ngayahika,

said Puma Energy employed the company’s new Hydrant Dispenser, AVT 41 equipped with filter water separator fuel filtration system and manned by AFGUARD water sensor technology. “

This equipment pushed up to 2,800 litres per minute, refuelling the aircraft with a total of 98,709 litres of Jet A1 fuel,” said Mr Ngayahika. Mr Ngayahika said the new Hydrant Dispenser makes Puma Energy the only oil marketer in the country capable of refuelling large aircraft with Jet A1 Fuel efficiently and at high speed,

while adhering to international aviation safety standards. Speaking at the JNIA after supervising the refuelling process, Mr Emmanuel Ngowi, the Puma Energy operator said the Emirates Airline’s management expressed their satisfaction with the quality of service offered by his company, noting that such rare opportunities offered more avenues for business development.

Source: Daily News

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