Jenifer Bamuturaki (2nd Right), the CEO Uganda Airlines and Adedayo Olawuyi (2nd Left), the Chief Commercial Officer at Uganda Airlines, with members of the cabin crew at the launch of the new routes
Uganda Airlines has announced three new routes, expanding the national carrier’s network to 16 destinations.
On September 12, 2024, the national carrier will launch its inaugural flight to Nigeria’s political capital, Abuja and on September 25, 2024, Uganda Airlines will launch its flights to Lusaka, Zambia, and Harare, Zimbabwe.
Abuja flights are scheduled twice weekly, while Lusaka and Harare are scheduled four times weekly.
The routes are launched as the national carrier celebrates five years since starting operations in August 2019.
Uganda Airlines already flies to Nairobi, Mombasa, Dar es Salam, Bujumbura, Johannesburg, Dubai, Zanzibar, Lagos, Kinshasa, Mumbai, Mogadishu, Juba, and Kilimanjaro.
Addressing the media in Kampala on Wednesday morning, Jenifer Bamuturaki, the Chief Executive Officer at Uganda Airlines, said the new routes aim to build and optimize the national carrier’s regional market, improve the utilization of the existing aircraft fleet, and feed the international market (Dubai and Mumbai) ahead of planned London and Guangzhou routes expected to be announced in the near future.
Bamuturaki noted that Lusaka and Harare are some of the underserved markets on the continent yet with big opportunities.
“The entry into these markets is meant to build an efficient and optimized regional market which will feed and finance a more profitable long-haul market; Grow the aircraft fleet utilisation, Create a robust regional network that will serve as a feeder for the UR’s long-haul market, especially LON/BOM/CAN/DXB; tap into HRE and LUN’s top unserved market and most importantly support Uganda Airline’s Africa network connectivity,” Bamuturaki said, adding: “Launching these routes marks the successful conclusion of our 3-year strategic plan, paving the way for the next phase of our 10-year rolling plan. This strategic approach ensures that our expansion is not just a leap of faith but a well-thought-out progression.”
She says Uganda Airlines’ aspiration is to bridge the geographical gaps and connect the East to the West, North and South of Africa.
“This vision guides our route expansion, which is carefully guided by feasibility studies pointing us to underserved routes,” she said, adding that the airline has stayed true to its rival’s connectivity objectives, and this is demonstrated by the recent increase in the frequency of its flights,
“We now operate 19 flights a day contributing to 20% traffic at Entebbe Airport—our enhanced revenue growth, cargo operations acceleration, and service scale. The network expansion is positioning the airline for profitability in the long run,” she emphasized.
Recently, the airline increased the number of flights to Juba, South Sudan, and Nairobi, Kenya, to nine flights a week and three flights daily, respectively, making a total of 19 flights per day out of Entebbe International Airport. Uganda Airlines currently flies to 13 destinations and 10 countries. The launch of Lusaka, Abuja, and Harare will increase destinations to 16.
Adedayo Olawuyi, the Chief Commercial Officer at Uganda Airlines, said that the decision to add Abuja to the routes was because of the country’s huge population on top of being the political capital of Nigeria. He adds that Abuja is one of the top underserved markets in Africa, with limited connectivity across the continent. Although Lusaka and Harare are not big economies like Nigeria, Olawuyi said that the two destinations are underserved in terms of connectivity within Africa.
Olawuyi is hopeful that with the existing networks, Uganda Airlines will become a major player in the continent’s aviation sector.
