Uganda Airlines


Uganda Airlines is the flag carrier of Uganda.
The company is a revival of the older Uganda Airlines which operated from 1977 until 2001. It began flying in August 2019.

Location

The company headquarters are located within Entebbe International Airport, in Wakiso District, approximately, by road, south of the central business district of Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda.

History

Following studies and wide consultations, the Cabinet of Uganda, opted to re-launch Uganda Airlines, with six new jets, two of which will be the wide-body, long-range A330-800neo 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 EastAfrican reported that the Ugandan government, had made a small monetary deposit on each of the six aircraft, while it concludes final financing arrangements. The first batch of CRJ900 aircraft was expected in November 2018, while the delivery of the A330-800neo 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, 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 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 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 neo 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 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 two months earlier. On 16 December 2019, Uganda Airlines commenced regular commercial passenger service to Zanzibar. The three-times-weekly service, brings the airline's destinations to eight.

Destinations

As of January 2020, Uganda Airlines operates flights to the following destinations:
CountryCityAirportNotesRefs
BurundiBujumburaBujumbura International Airport
KenyaMombasaMoi International Airport
KenyaNairobiJomo Kenyatta International Airport
SomaliaMogadishuMogadishu International Airport
South SudanJubaJuba International Airport
TanzaniaDar es SalaamJulius Nyerere International Airport
TanzaniaKilimanjaroKilimanjaro International Airport
TanzaniaZanzibarZanzibar International Airport
UgandaEntebbeEntebbe International Airport

It is expected that when Kabaale International Airport is completed in 2021, a network of flights to local, regional and international destinations, will be developed around the new airport.

Fleet

As of October 2019, The airline operates the following aircraft: The aircraft were procured new from Airbus in Europe and Bombardier Aerospace in Canada.


In February 2019, the first of four CRJ900 aircraft that Uganda Airlines had ordered, took her first test flight with the livery of the new airline. On 29 March 2019, the Ugandan parliament approved a request by the Ugandan government for USh280 billion, to pay for the first two CRJ900s, expected to arrive in Uganda in April 2019.
The third and fourth CRJ900 aircraft are expected to be delivered during the middle of October 2019, according to the Uganda Ministry of Woks and Transport. On 5 October 2019, the third and fourth CRJ900s, 5X–KDP and 5X–KNP left Montreal, Canada on their delivery journey to Entebbe, Uganda, landing there on 7 October 2019.
On 8 April 2019, the airline firmed up its order for two A330-800 neos. In April 2020, The EastAfrican reported that delivery of the first A330-800 neo had been brought forward to October 2020, with the second unit scheduled for delivery in November 2020.

Governance

The airline is governed by a seven-person board of directors, including the following:
  1. Godfrey Perez Ahabwe : Chairperson
  2. Benon Kajuna : Representing the Uganda Ministry of Works and Transport
  3. Godfrey Ssemugooma: Representing the Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development
  4. Catherine Asinde Poran: Independent, Non-Executive Director
  5. Rehema Mutazindwa: Independent, Non-Executive Director
  6. Charles Hamya: Independent, Non-Executive Director
  7. Stephen Aziku Zua: Independent, Non-Executive Director.

    Staff

In September 2018, the airline placed advertisements in the local print media for prospective airline staff, including directors for maintenance, engineering, commercial affairs and finance. Also corporate quality manager, human resource, ground operations, sales and marketing, cabin services and planning managers are being sought for recruitment. Pilots, cabin crew staff, ticketing officers, human resource officers, IT personnel, station managers and accountants are among the many available positions. In February 2019, The Independent reported that a total of sixteen pilots of the twenty four that had been recruited were sent for training on the operation of the CRJ900 aircraft. Eight were sent to Mirabel, near Montreal, where the jets are assembled. Another eight were sent to a facility in France. When the airline becomes fully functional, a total of thirty-six pilots will have been recruited and trained. As of April 2019, 200 staff positions of an estimated 400 vacancies had been filled.
In October 2019, the airline's board of directors began a search for a new substantive chief executive officer. The then CEO, Ephraim Bagyenda, was reassigned to Director of Engineering and Maintenance. Cornwell Muleya, the airline's technical director, was appointed CEO, in an acting capacity. As of July 2020, the search for a substantive CEO was ongoing. In the meantime, Cornwell Muleya's contract as acting CEO was extended to February 2021.

Ownership

The airline is jointly owned by two Ugandan Cabinet Ministries; the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Ministry of Works and Transport, on a 50/50 basis.

Associations and memberships

In September 2019, Uganda National Airlines Company Limited was admitted as a member of the African Airlines Association,.