By Our Reporter
Uganda’s national Carrier, Uganda Airlines, has acquired a new Airbus A320 from Global Airlines based in Johannesburg, South Africa, to enhance its operational efficiency.
Uganda Airlines Chief Executive Officer Ms. Jenifer Bamuturaki says the aircraft, acquired on Wet lease, comes with its pilots and cabin crew.
It will support Uganda Airlines in maintaining schedule integrity during the period when part of their regional fleet undergoes scheduled maintenance.
The aircraft is a 160-seater, with a two-class cabin featuring 12 business class and 138 economy seats.
This lease, Bamuturaki reveals would also help to resolve operational challenges on routes like Johannesburg and Kinshasa, where “we have been unable to operate efficiently due to capacity limitations and augment operations on services to Nairobi and Lagos”.
“We are delighted to announce this partnership with Global Airlines, which will support our operations at a critical juncture in our development. We have seen significant growth in demand on a number of our routes, which has introduced certain pressures into our operations. Leasing this A320 is intended to ensure that our customers continue to enjoy the unparalleled service that we have become known for and add flexibility to our operations,” explained Bamuturaki.
Uganda Airlines is the flag carrier of Uganda. The company is a revival of the older Uganda Airlines which operated from 1977 until 2001. The current carrier began flying in August 2019.
The company headquarters are located within Entebbe International Airport, in Wakiso District, approximately 34 kilometres (21 mi), by road, south of the central business district of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda.
Following studies and wide consultations, the Cabinet of Uganda opted to re-launch Uganda Airlines, with six new jets, two of which are the wide-body, long-range A330-800 and the other four being CRJ900 aircraft. The studies recommended an equity investment by the government of approximately US$70 million and loans totaling US$330 million, borrowed from regional lenders, such as the Trade and Development Bank, to complete the purchase.
In May 2018, the Ugandan government had made a small monetary deposit on each of the six aircraft, while it concluded final financing arrangements. The first batch of CRJ900 aircraft was expected in November 2018, while the delivery of the A330-800 planes was expected in December 2020.
As of 19 March 2019, according to Ephraim Bagenda, the company’s chief executive at the time, 12 pilots and 12 co-pilots (total of 24 cockpit crew), all of them Ugandans, had completed their training and certification on the CRJ900-ER aircraft. The first two regional jets were expected in Uganda in April 2019. The third jet was scheduled for delivery in July 2019 and the fourth CRJ900 was expected in September 2019. Between April and June 2019, the airline planned to obtain an Air operator’s certificate (AOC) from the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and start operations by 30 June 2019. On 8 April 2019, the expected delivery date for the first two jets (5X-EQU and 5X-KOB) was reported as Tuesday 23 April 2019.
In April 2019, the delivery of the first Bombardier CRJ900 was confirmed as 23 April 2019 and that of the first Airbus A330-800 as the first half of 2021.
On 27 July 2019, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority awarded Uganda National Airlines Company with an Air Operator Certificate, finalizing a five-step, three-month certification process that cleared the airline to commence commercial operations. On 2 August 2019, the airline announced the launch date as the 28th of the same month, with flights to Nairobi, Mogadishu, Dar es Salaam, Juba, Kilimanjaro, Mombasa and Bujumbura.
On the morning of 28 August 2019, Uganda Airlines had its first commercial flight from Entebbe to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with eight passengers on board.
On 13 November 2019, Uganda Airlines launched the first flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport; thereby completing the first phase of operations to seven routes which was started with flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport nearly three months earlier.
On 16 December 2019, Uganda Airlines commenced regular commercial passenger service to Zanzibar in Tanzania. The three-times-weekly service, brought the airline’s destinations to eight in the second phase of route expansion.
On 1 October 2020, after a six-months pause in scheduled passenger service, due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Uganda Airlines resumed scheduled passenger service, in a phased manner. On that day, the airline’s hub, Entebbe International Airport that had been closed to passenger traffic since March 2020, was opened for resumed passenger service.
On 18 December 2020, Uganda Airlines launched commercial flights to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The three times weekly operation increased the airline’s expanding network to ten destinations.
In August 2023, UR announced plans to begin scheduled passenger and cargo service to Lagos, Nigeria and Mumbai, India, during Q4 2023. If and when new equipment is acquired as anticipated, destinations on the radar include Lusaka, Harare, Cape Town, Abuja, Jeddah, London and Guangzhou. Others include Addis Ababa and Amsterdam. Also under consideration is Goma, DRC.
