Uganda Airlines’ commercial flights pushed to August

By George Mangula

The revamped national airline, Uganda Airlines will begin its first commercial flight next month and not this July as earlier communicated by government.

The Minister of Works and Transport, Eng. Monica Azuba said in a statement to parliament that the rescheduling is due to the fact that the company not yet been granted an air operating certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), a government agency that regulates air transport business in Uganda.

Minister Azuba said the new expected date for the AOC is July 28. Azuba said the airline is now at stage four out five in securing an AOC.

Last April, two Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft were purchased from Canada’s plane maker-Bombardier at Shs280 billion. More aircraft expected into the country to boost the airline that will have to compete with Africa’s best like South African Airways, Ethiopian Airways and Kenya Airways among others.

“The targeted date for the issuance of the air operating certificate to the airline by CAA 28th July, 2019. This means that Uganda Airlines can fly after that date. Already the booking, the reservations, the ticketing and accounting systems of Uganda Airlines have been activated but in a test environment,” Azuba said, adding that the systems had been set up using the provisional IATA designator and IATA accounting codes. “The issuance of the air operating certificate will therefore trigger the activation of the codes in a live environment,” said Azuba.

Some of the first planned destinations according to Azuba include Nairobi, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro Mogadishu, Bujumbura and Juba. South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sudan are expected to be added later when two more aircraft arrive in September.