We need to support Uganda Airlines, says Katumba Wamala

Katumba who was addressing the Aviation Week Stakeholders Engagement Breakfast held at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday said Government of Uganda is committed to implementation of all efforts aimed at ensuring the growth of the aviation industry.

“To show this commitment, we all know that Government decided to revive the Uganda Airlines. Despite all the challenges which are going through as an airline, despite the flaks we get. We rarely get thumbs up, most of the time we are being pulled down. But even with all that Government is determined to support the aviation industry and that is why we decided to revive the Uganda Airlines,” he said.

Katumba encouraged the public to be supportive of the Airline since it will be very helpful to the general public when it comes to connecting Uganda to the rest of the world.

“I normally tell people to look at the airline just like a highway because it is creating highways for you between Entebbe and Guangzhou, Dubai and other destinations for you to be able to do business in those places. We need to support the Airline because it is very crucial in the growth and development of Uganda,” he said.

He added: “One of the ways we can support our tourism industry is by supporting our aviation industry which now has the Uganda Airlines.”

Katumba also urged other international and regional air operators to consider Uganda Airlines as a partner and not a competitor saying working together with other operators can be good for the entire global aviation industry.

The director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority, Fred Bamwesigye, hinted on the new routes such as London, Guangzho and Mumbai the Airline is yet to start taking.

“We have quite a number of routes that Uganda Airlines is set to start taking anytime soon. These include: Guangzhou, Mumbai and London among others,” he said.

Bamwesigye also said the Authority is working towards improving its non-aeronautic revenues which currently are way below the aeronautic revenue.

“We want to improve the non-aeronautic revenues. Currently, aeronautic revenues produce the most revenue which 80% of the total revenue. We hope to change this to at least 50% each,” he said.

He said the Authority is also looking forward to expansion of the airport which he said will also help improve the non-aeronautic revenue since it will enable CAA build recreation centres and hotels thus improving the non-aeronautic revenues.

Scandals

The Uganda Airlines has severally been rocked by scandals ever since it was revamped. The company was rocked by infighting between the company’s first CEO, Cornwell Muleya and some of his subordinates which ended up in him losing his job.

It was also reported that politicians were also involved in lobbying for their inexperienced relatives to take on jobs in the Airline.

As if this was not enough, it was revealed that the Airline reported operating losses totalling sh498b across three fiscal years thanks in no small part to questionable contracts and transactions.

This sparked off a series of investigations by the parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) which ended up unearthing mismanagement concerns, poor allocation of funds and questions whether the current CEO, Jennifer Bamuturuki, qualifies for the job.