AFTER months of being
grounded, Air Uganda
has announced that it will
not be resuming operations,
signalling the end of its time in
Africa’s skies.
The airline’s flights were
first suspended in June by
the Ugandan Civil Aviation
Authority, which said the
carrier needed to reapply for
its Air Operator Certificate
before it could resume
flights. Now, however, more
than three months later, a
spokesperson for the airline,
Rod Murphy, told TNW that
Air Uganda’s shareholder (the
Aga Khan Fund for Economic
Development) had “had
enough of African politics”.
According to a statement by
Cornwell Muleya, ceo of Air
Uganda, an International Civil
Aviation Organization audit
revealed shortcoming in the
CAA’s oversight and regulatory
capacity, which resulted in
the organisation withdrawing
AOCs for all international
commercial air operators
registered in Uganda. He said
this required the airline to
cease operations and incur
“massive financial losses on a
daily basis”.
Further, he said the airline’s
aircraft lease agreements
required the airline to continue
flying for the aircraft to remain
on lease to Air Uganda.
“The extended period of the
aircraft remaining grounded
has thus, sadly, triggered
these covenants and Air
Uganda is now contractually
obligated to return the aircraft
to the lessors’ chosen facility
abroad,” Cornwell added.
According to media reports,
the aircraft were transported
to Paris in August.
Meanwhile, airlines outside
Uganda have benefited
from the suspension of Air
Uganda’s flights. Kenya-based
East African reports that, to
counter skyrocketing prices
out of Entebbe, the CAA
granted fifth freedom rights
to Rwandair and Ethiopian
Airlines for flights to Juba and
Kenya Airways was allowed
unlimited frequencies on the
Entebbe-Nairobi route.
Fastjet launched flights
between Dar es Salaam
and Entebbe in September.
When announcing the new
service it said fares offered
by other carriers for flights
into and out of Uganda had
steadily risen since Air Uganda
ceased flying. It said it was
confident that it had a strong
competitive advantage as it
was the only carrier offering
direct flights between Dar es
Salaam and Entebbe.
Air Uganda was launched
in November 2007 and
served a number of East
African destinations including
Nairobi, Juba, Dar es Salaam,
Mombasa, Kigali, Bujumbura,
Kilimanjaro and Mogadishu.
Shortly before the initial
grounding, there were reports
of the airline’s plans to
extend its network to central,
southern and north Africa.
