Precision Air

Is Precision Air safe?

It carries more risk than most airlines we score. Precision Air, the private airline that links Dar es Salaam with Tanzania's lake, safari and coast airports, lost an ATR 42 in Lake Victoria in November 2022, killing 19 people, and the investigators put the crash down to how the crew flew the approach. Its regulator is weak enough that the EU has banned every Tanzanian airline since June 2025. The airline also has money problems: in March 2025 its liabilities exceeded its assets. We score it 52.

There are points in its favour. Precision Air is an IATA member, so it has passed the IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit, and it flies a single family of turboprops, the ATR 42 and ATR 72, which are well suited to short African runways.

What happened on flight PW494?

On the morning of 6 November 2022 an ATR 42-500 from Dar es Salaam reached Bukoba, on the western shore of Lake Victoria, just as a thunderstorm moved in. Bukoba had no air traffic service and no instrument approach, so the crew had to see the runway to land.

According to the final report of Tanzania's Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), published in 2025, the crew circled for about 15 minutes in heavy rain. A "terrain, pull up" warning sounded and was not acted on. The first officer twice suggested diverting to Mwanza; the captain, who was also the airline's chief pilot with more than 23,000 flying hours, chose to keep trying. On the final attempt he took control at about 900 feet, pushed the nose down and let the aircraft descend at up to 1,700 feet per minute. Repeated sink-rate warnings went unanswered. The first officer shouted "pull up, captain" as the aircraft hit the water short of the runway.

Nineteen of the 43 people on board died, among them both pilots. A flight attendant opened the rear door and fishermen in canoes picked up the 24 survivors. The AAIB named the captain's decision to continue below weather minima, gusting crosswinds, the lack of air traffic services and the slow response to terrain warnings among the causes. A British coroner who held an inquest into the death of one passenger in 2025 said he was considering raising concerns with ICAO.

Older accidents

Two earlier events fall inside our 20-year window, both runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary of ATR 72s without injuries:

• Nairobi, 8 July 2007. An ATR 72 veered off the runway on landing, crossed a ditch and its nose gear collapsed. The cause was uneven reverse thrust with the power levers jammed. All 66 people on board were unhurt.
• Kilimanjaro, 10 July 2014. An engine seized on a flight from Mwanza and the crew diverted. After touchdown the aircraft swerved off the runway, hit a runway light and ran 180 metres on grass before getting back onto the runway. All 40 on board were unhurt.

One fatal accident in the last 15 years puts an airline in our 60–79 band for the accident record. A crash with crew error at the centre, on a fleet of fewer than ten aircraft, plus two earlier excursions, keeps Precision Air at the bottom of that band: we score it 60, level with US-Bangla Airlines, whose one fatal crash also came on a small fleet.

The EU ban and a thin record

The EU listed every Tanzanian-certified airline on 3 June 2025, citing a shortage of qualified staff at the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority and ineffective oversight of flight operations and airworthiness. The 9 June 2026 list names Precision Air Services under certificate TCAA/AOC/003. We score every airline under an EU ban outside Russia at 25 on oversight, IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary or not, so Precision Air sits with Air Tanzania. Tanzania is also missing from the FAA's safety list, because no Tanzanian airline flies to the United States.

The public incident record is short. In July 2022 an ATR 42 from Mwanza shut down its right engine and diverted to Kilimanjaro, and in December 2018 an ATR 72 ran through a flock of birds on landing at Mwanza, with birds in both engine intakes. Tanzania's investigators publish few reports, so we do not read a short list as a clean one.

A small fleet under financial strain

Precision Air flew nine ATRs in August 2026: ATR 42-500s, ATR 42-600s and ATR 72-500s, according to its engine maintenance provider StandardAero. The -600 models have newer glass cockpits; the -500s are an earlier version of the same design. In July 2025 the airline said engine part shortages had kept aircraft on the ground and forced it to cut flights, and it wet-leased an ATR 72-500 from another operator to fill the gap. When an aircraft is wet-leased, its crew and certificate belong to the lessor, so ask who operates your flight.

The finances matter because they press on maintenance and staffing. In March 2025 Kenya Airways, which owns 41.23%, was reviewing its stake because Precision Air's liabilities exceeded its assets.

How to fly Precision Air more safely

• Build slack into lake-region trips. Storms near Bukoba and Mwanza, worst around November, build within minutes. A diversion or a long hold is the safe outcome, so do not book a tight onward connection.
• Sit near an exit on Lake Victoria routes. The survivors of PW494 got out through one door that opened. Count the rows to your nearest exit when you board.
• Compare the jet option. On Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, Air Tanzania flies newer jets under the same EU ban but without a recent fatal accident.

How we scored it

The 2022 crash (accident record 60) and the EU ban on all Tanzanian airlines (oversight 25) drive the score. The fleet (64) is a sensible type for the network but mostly older ATR -500s, and a thin incident record (55) and hard lake airports (50) do not help. For a stronger East African regional record, compare RwandAir.