By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Uganda Airlines’ fleet of six aircraft comprising two Airbus A338Neo’s and four CRJ900’s series, with an average age of 1.15 years, has been ranked as the youngest fleet in Africa as well as in the world by CH Aviation.
The award ceremony was held virtually on Monday and dedicated to airlines across the globe keeping a young, modern and efficient fleet of new generation’s aircraft. The award also covers airlines’ contribution towards fuel efficiency, sustainable development, including significant improvement in decreasing carbon emissions.
It was in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively, that Uganda Airlines took delivery of four brand new CRJ900’s from Bombardier as part of its fleet development plan, before adding two equally brand new Airbus A330-00Neo’s in December 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
Equipped with the latest inflight technology, the two Airbus aircraft deliver an average of 20per cent fuel savings per flight compared to similar competitor models and the older A330 types.
Powered by the new generation Rolls Royce engines, the aircraft also produce a sharply reduced noise footprint and nitrogen oxides (N0x) playing a significant role in the environmental initiatives of the airline.
It is understood that the airline is presently also evaluating additional aircraft purchases to fill the gap between the short and short-medium haul CRJ’s and the long haul, state of the art A330 wide-body aircraft, to tap into crucial connecting traffic via Entebbe from a widening network across Africa.
The leading contender is according to usually well-informed sources the state of the art Airbus A220-300, an aircraft type also operated by other African airlines like Egypt Air and Air Tanzania.
However, like all airlines in Africa and across the world has Uganda Airlines’ planned growth and network expansion also been hit by the global pandemic, which saw traffic numbers impacted. Flight bans, including the most recent one by the UAE, have also had a major impact on the airline as flights between Entebbe and Dubai had swiftly turned into one of the airline’s most profitable routes.
Third place for Africa’s youngest fleet has been awarded to Air Seychelles as reported earlier today by http://www.ATCNews.org, maintaining an average aircraft age of 4.3 years whilst Kenya’s Jambojet, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, which operates six de Havilland (formerly also Bombardier) DHC8-Q400s averaging 2.78 years old is ranked second in Africa.
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When contacted for a comment on the same, Ag CEO Uganda Airlines Jennifer Bamuturaki said her and entire team were excited to learn that the world is recognizing Uganda’s contribution in the airspace with in a short period of their commencement. “It’s actually a good sign that we’re on th right trajectory,” Jennifer added.
