President Yoweri Museveni has assured the people of Uganda that the new Uganda Airline will be a successful undertaking because of the big Ugandan diaspora, the very many Uganda business people that travel and the many tourists coming to visit the country (Pearl of Africa).
The 76-seater planes each are slated to commence regional commercial flights in July 2019. The Government of Uganda has committed to procuring 6 Bombardier planes from their Canadian manufacturers and will be receiving two more Bombardiers in July and September this year, while two Airbus planes which will fly international routes are expected early next year.
President Museveni said he is an advocate of an East African Airways to be owned and run by the East African Community bloc to stem what he called unnecessary competition.
Museveni urged East African countries to work together instead of competing in the aviation industry after he received Uganda Airlines’ new planes, two Bombardiers that landed at Entebbe Airport on Tuesday.
“My ideological orientation still believes we can have an EA airline if we amalgamate all national airlines. It partly explains why I delayed the revival of Uganda Airlines but our friends did not see this, some of them were discriminating against Ugandan travellers,” he said.
Museveni went on to describe the revived Uganda National Airline as a new born baby that has been delivered to Ugandans and cannot be allowed to die.
Receiving the two airplanes at Entebbe International Airport on Tuesday, Museveni was open about the demise of the former national carrier in 2001, noting that “I was among the undertakers who buried the old airline.”
He said the Airline’s marketing team must study the four groups of people who occasionally travel and know if they are potential clients to the revived airline.
They include Ugandans in the diaspora, returned Ugandan Asians, the business people and tourists.
He said Ugandans spent up 1.5 trillion Shillings annually on travel, which is given to foreign airlines. He said since the Airline has been revived, Ugandans will be spending money on their own Airline.
Captain Michael Etyang, the chief plot of Uganda National Airlines, said there are several things that need to be addressed. They include training and certification process before commercial flights start in July.
