MICHAEL WAKABI / KAMPALA
Ugandan airline with ex-United 737-200 plans to take on expanding Africa One
The East African transport market is set to expand further as a second Ugandan airline prepares to launch services. East African Airlines (EAA) is poised to begin regional services from Entebbe, as start-up Africa One expands its network.
EAA, which is 100% Ugandan-owned, is headed by Benedict Mutyaba, previously chief executive of defunct Uganda Airlines. It will use the former national carrier's International Civil Aviation Organisation code QU. Mutyaba says the airline has acquired an ex-United Airlines Boeing 737-200 Adv and has an option to take a second. The US carrier is also providing assistance with crew training, maintenance and spares.
The first 95-seat 737 is due for delivery this month, and will be used to launch services in October. Like Africa One, It has been assigned rights to serve Bujumbura (Burundi), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Dubai, Johannesburg, Kigali (Rwanda) and Nairobi.
Mutyaba says EAA will be purely a regional airline that will try to exploit the open skies policy of African free trade organisation Comesa. "We cannot fly to London because we can't compete with mainline operators. We will develop the local market to feed the major carriers," he says.
Meanwhile, Entebbe-based Africa One is beginning flights to Nairobi and Kilimanjaro. It launched services on 29 April operating two 90-seat McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50s to Dubai, and also now serves Dar es Salaam. It also has a hub in Lagos, Nigeria.
The airline is taking on incumbent carrier Kenya Airways in the Nairobi market, and air fares have already tumbled. Africa One says although it has rights to match the 21 weekly flights that Kenya Airways operates, it will initially only operate one round trip a day.
Africa One managing director Fredrick Ochieng Obbo says that it has received government approval to serve Johannesburg from Entebbe, a route currently operated by Kenya Airways and South African Airways.
Although the airline was launched with plans to link its Lagos hub to Dubai via Entebbe, alongside flights to London via Banjul, it has not been able to operate the Lagos-Entebbe sector as the bilateral between Uganda and Nigeria has not yet taken effect.
A feeder network will be created from which the London services will be launched during the first half of next year, says Obbo. "We are also looking to fly to Kinshasa but there are some things that we need to sort out first," he says.
Source: Flight International
