The South Sudan-registered company will initially operate three flights every week - on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It joins the fray, that has been for Uganda Airlines Limited, Eagle Air Limited and Premier Aviation.
"We are five years now and you know this is a heavily capital-intensive type of industry. We are not yet profitable, but the growth trajectory is we should be profitable in about 10 years time," says Rubombora.
During a briefing with journalists, UCAA top management highlighted the progress of developments, which include the commissioning of a new passenger terminal on January 10, 2024, just before hosting two major conferences: the Non-Aligned Movement conference and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Speakers and Presiding Officers conference.
ransport Minister Katumba Wamala said many high end tourists have no time to commit on road journeys to the tourism sites and would prefer flying to those upcountry places. PM premier Nabbanja disclosed that thirteen aerodromes had already been refurbished while another six had been lined up for repair.
“I was on the Uganda Airlines flight to Johannesburg this morning...I found it curious that the passengers were engaged over the speakers in English and Afrikaans...yes, Afrikaans! What happened to Swahili or Luganda or Acholi,” a passenger questioned.
The Airline carried 77,355 passengers for the year ended June 2020, registering a shortfall of 10 per cent from its target of 85,760 passengers. This also meant that predicted income of 31.5 billion Shillings was not attained, and instead, the airline generated 25.2 billion Shillings. However, the airline made an additional 14.8 billion Shillings from 26,394 passengers at the end of December 2020.
