UCAA’s delay in concluding aircraft certification process cited Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | State owned Uganda Airlines has secured landing slots at London Heathrow International Airport in the United Kingdom and Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates but it is not ready to start servicing the routes, The Independent has learnt.
Responding to a number of media reports about the launch of long haul flights that also include Guangzhou in China and Mumbai in India, the airline said the industry regulator, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), is yet to complete clearing the two new Airbus A330-800Neo aircraft to fly.
Uganda Airlines got two Airbus A330-800Neo aircraft in the past two and half months to service long haul flights but the planes remain grounded at Entebbe International Airport, keeping national assets worth billions of shillings on the ground instead of flying and earning revenue.
“This is a five-phase programme which once complete will result in addition of the aircraft to the Uganda Airlines Operator Certificate…Dates for the start of operations to each of the destinations will be announced soon,” Uganda Airlines said in a statement published on March.03.
However, UCAA has remained silent on the matter and the entity’s spokesperson, Vianney Luggya, could not respond to our calls by press time. Currently, Uganda Airlines flies to nine destinations mainly in eastern and central Africa using the CRJ -900saircraft.
Uganda Airlines hopes to cash-in on tourism and trade opportunities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East as well as retain part of the US$400 million that the local population spends on foreign airlines to travel abroad per annum.
Data from the tourism ministry shows that outside Africa, Europe is the region that sent the second largest number of visitors (7.4%), followed by the Americas (5.5%) and Asia (5.1%) in 2017 for tourism in the country. Tourist arrivals from India stood at 35,676, the UK (33,564) and China (16,842).
However, in relation to trade, Uganda’s trade with the United Kingdom dropped over the past five years. Last data from Bank of Uganda shows that the country’s export earnings from the United Kingdom dropped from US $26.8million in 2015 to US$10.3million in 2020 and so is the import bill that dropped from US$71.9mllion to US$ 60million during the same period under review.
Nevertheless, Uganda’s export earnings to China increased from US$57.6million in 2015 to US$40.02million in 2020. However, China’s exports to Uganda grew much faster from US$736million […]