By Spy Uganda
Uganda Airlines recorded an impressive performance in passenger numbers in 2021 despite COVID-19 induced lockdowns in various countries.
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Uganda’s National Carrier carried 154,245 passengers in 2021 compared to 93,780 in 2019 and 2020 combined.
The revelation was made by Jennifer Bamuturaki, the Ag. CEO at Uganda Airlines during a media engagement held at Golden Tulip Hotel in Kampala on Thursday, January 20, 2022.
It should be noted that the young passenger and cargo airline started commercial operations in August 2019.
“After the inclusion of cargo on the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in August 2021, the Airline freighted over 230 tons of cargo from Entebbe and over 400tons inbound,” Bamuturaki said.
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She added that the national carrier has expanded its network to 11 destinations since its inception.
However, according to the airline’s business plan, in the 2nd year of operation, the national carrier had planned to have 18 and four (4) regional and international routes respectively, but this couldn’t be possible due to COVID-19 effects.
Some of the Uganda Airlines operational routes include Nairobi, Mombasa, Dubai, Kinshasa, Johannesburg, Juba, Dar es Salaam Mogadishu and Bujumbura.
Bamuturaki noted that the airline’s revenue performance for FY 2021/22 at half-year stands at 34% against its target of 64.5%.
“The skewed performance was due to COVID-19 effects where the Airline had to reduce the flight frequencies on some routes,” she said.
Best Performing Routes
Bamuturaki singled out Bujumbura, Juba and Mogadishu routes as the best performing, with a load factor of 70%.
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“Juba and Mogadishu are on budget while Bujumbura is slightly below the budget,” Bamuturaki said, adding that with the full reopening of economies globally, the airline will post positive performance on most of the routes.
Speaking about key milestones for the airline in 2021, Bamuturaki said Uganda Airlines started its first long-haul flight to Dubai in October after launching the Johannesburg route in May 2021.
This was after the Airline successfully had Airbus included on its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in August 2021.
In partnership with Airbus, Bamuturaki said, Uganda Airlines has signed a Flight Hour Services (FHS) agreement for after-sales support that will run for a period of five years.
“The Airline secured its technical performance and safety through integrated services like on-site engineering and repairs and timely spare parts availability through this contract,” she said.
She further revealed that Uganda Airlines has won the World’s Youngest Aircraft Fleet Award by Ch-Aviation for the second year running, having first won it in March 2021. As of March 2021, the publication cited the average age of the aircraft in the Uganda Airlines fleet as 1.15 years.
“2021 was an eye-opener on how we can sustainably use the fleet during the pandemic,” Bamuturaki said, adding: “With global economies opening up, the Airline is well positioned to resume full-scale operations and expand its network strategically.”
