From eTN

Precision Air, once Tanzania’s fastest growing airline, is in financial turmoil and desperately in need of a $32 million bailout package, The Citizen newspaper reports.

The airline’s board chairman, Mr Michael Shirima, told the paper that they were seeking the money from various sources, including the government, to enable it to meet urgent financial obligations that include servicing bank loans and paying aircraft suppliers.

Other sources said the airline had left the government to decide whether it would act as a guarantor for a bank loan or provide funds in exchange for a stake in the troubled carrier.

Mr Shirima, who founded the airline in 1993, admitted that Precision Air was going through tough times because of huge debts accumulated after it ordered seven aircraft worth $136 million from the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer Avions de transport regional (ATR) in 2007.

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