Uganda Airlines | Fly with us

Uganda Airlines | Fly with us

Uganda Airlines | Fly with us  : Generally, this is Uganda’s flagship national passenger and cargo carrier. The company headquarters are nestled within Entebbe International Airport in Wakiso District, approximately 34 kilometers by road. It is also south of the central business district of Kampala the Capital, largest and busiest city in Uganda. It was re-established on 2018 but started operating in 2019 with 2 planes. As a matter of fact, it has grown to 6 aircrafts flying to about 20 destinations. 

History

Uganda Airlines was launched or founded as a subsidiary of the government-owned Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) in May 1976. In fact, it was founded as a replacement of the services previously operated by the East African Airways. Initially, it began operating in 1977, when Uganda Aviation Services (UAS) set up by the British United Airways in 1965. However, a UDC subsidiary, was absorbed by Uganda Airlines taking over the UAS route network. With subsequent following delivery of the first Boeing 707-320C in the late 1970_s, new routes were formed. These included; Brussels, London as well as Rome and second Boeing 707-320C entered the fleet in 1981. 

In that very year new routes to Cairo, Cologne and Dubai were launched followed by Kilimanjaro, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in the subsequent years. By March 1990, the fleet contained one Boeing 707-320C, two Fokker F27-600_S, one Lockheed L-100-30, one Twin Otter and one B-N Trislander. A Boeing 737 was leased from Air Zimbabwe in 1994 to serve Bujumbura and Kigali, as well as destinations in South Africa. 

The return of Uganda Airlines

In the late 1990_s, the Government of Uganda planned to privatize the debt- ridden Airlines in order to search for an investor. Actually, it was done to keep the company at balance since it was in a decline cash position. Interestingly, at the beginning, numerous firms held an interest in taking over the Uganda Airlines. These included; SA Alliance/SAA, Air Mauritius, British Airways, Johannesburg-based inter Air, Kenya Airways and Sabena.

In fact, they all appeared to be interested bidders at the start but eventually declined to submit bids, apart from SAA the only bidder who remained by early 1999. SAA would have had a 49% participation in the company, however, dropped its bid after encountering strong legislature opposition. Upon having no offers, the Ugandan Government liquidated the airline in May 2001. Following studies along with wide consultations, the Cabinet of Uganda choose to re-launch the Uganda Airlines. These included six new jets, two of which will be the wide-body, long range A330-800 and the other four being CRJ900 aircraft. 

Commercial Operations

On 19^th March 2019, according to the company’s chief executive Ephraim Bagenda, 12 pilots and 12 co-pilots (total of 24 cockpit crew)  all were Ugandans. In fact, these had completed their training and certification on the CRJ900-ER aircraft. In April 2019, the first two regional jets were expected in Uganda, the third in July 2019 and fourth in September 2019. On 8^th April 2019, the scheduled delivery date for the first two jets (5X-EQU and 5X-KOB) were reported on Tuesday 23^rd April 2019.

In April 2019, the delivery of the Bombardier CRJ900 was confirmed on 23^rd April 2019 and that of the Airbus A330-800 as the first half of 2021. Furthermore, on 2^nd August 2019, the airline declared the launch date on 28^th August of the same year. Flights included; Dar es Salaam, Juba, Mogadishu, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro, Mombasa and Bujumbura. On 28^th August 2019, the Uganda Airlines had its first commercial flight from Entebbe to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with eight passengers on board.

On 13^th November 2019, the Uganda Airlines launched the first flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport. This accomplished the first phase of operations to seven routes starting with flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In addition, on 16^th December 2019, Uganda Airlines started regular commercial passenger services to Zanzibar in Tanzania. On 18^th December 2020, the Uganda Airlines launched commercial flights to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, the three times weekly operations shoot up the Airline’s expanding network to ten destinations.  

Destinations

Note that; Uganda Airlines flies to about 20 destinations and below are some of them;

1. Johannesburg
2. Abuja
3. Bujumbura
4. Entebbe
5. Dubai
6. Kilimanjaro
7. Zanzibar
8. Mubai
9. Juba
10. Lusaka
11. Harare
12. Nairobi
13. Kinshasha
14. Dar es Salaam
15. Lagos
16. Mogadishu
17. Mombasa

Fleet

In February 2019, the first out of the four CRJ900 aircrafts that the Uganda Airlines had ordered, took the first test flight with the livery of the new Airline. On 5 October 2019, the third and fourth CRJ900_s, 5X-KDP and 5X-KNP left Montreal then to Canada and landed Uganda on 7 October 2019. Transportation of the first aircraft took place on 21^st December 2020. On the same date, Airbus handed over the first of two A330-841s that the airline purchased in 2018. Handed over to a commission of Ugandan government officials, led by General Katumba Wamala, the Ugandan minister of works and transport. A team of Ugandan pilots flew the aircraft, with a registration number 5X-NIL from Toulouse to France. Finally to Entebbe Uganda on the date 22 December 2020 bearing a flight number UR404. 

Uganda Airlines fleet

Aircraft	In Fleet		Passengers
			C	P	Y	Total
Airbus A330-800	2		20	28	210	258
Bombardier CRJ900ER	4		12	_	64	76
Total	6