Uganda Airlines seeks to dominate the skies after clearance to fly to UK
Uganda Airlines has got rights to commence flights to Heathrow Airport in London, UK as part of its operations in a bid to dominate the skies.
According to James Pearson, an aviation development chief analyst, the national carrier obtained slots at the Heathrow Airport and is scheduled to launch flights from Entebbe later this month.
Keep Reading
“Although not yet available for booking, it would operate five weekly flights using Airbus A330- 800s arriving at 6:45m and departing at 9am,” Pearson said.
Explaining the rationale for granting Uganda Airlines rights to Heathrow, the aviation development chief analyst said over 84000 passengers flew on the Entebbe to London flight on a two-way point-to-point basis in 2019, making Entebbe the second-largest unserved market from Africa to London behind Harare airport in Zimbabwe.
In the Uganda Airlines second Annual General Meeting held in Kampala, the shareholders including the Ministry of Finance and their counterparts from Works and Transport said they were happy with the progress of the national carrier since its revival.
“The shareholders look forward to the continued growth of passenger and cargo portfolio with the start of long haul flights to Dubai, London, Guangzhou and Mumbai,” the national carrier tweeted.
They however said these routes will have to wait for the conclusion of the ongoing operation certification process for the new A330neo Airbus aircraft.
Uganda Airlines last month received its second Airbus A330 Neo to make it six, the fleet for the revived national carrier that seeks to dominate the African skies.
The national carrier currently operates flights to Bujumbura, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Juba, Mogadishu, and Kinshasa with its four 72- seater Bombadier CRJ9OOs that arrived earlier for shorter regional routes.
The airline is soon expected to add Johannesburg, Lusaka, Harare, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Lagos, Accra, Goma, Lubumbashi onto their regional routes.
After the acquisition of the two A330neo Airbus aircraft, Uganda Airlines will embark on long-haul flights to Dubai, London and Guangzhou for the start.
