AIR TRANSPORT

44
A
ir Ugandas ascension to IATA was
supposed to be a watershed moment for
the privately-owned carrier, heralding a
new era of industry cooperation and paving the
way for significant expansion of its turboprop
fleet.
The seven-year-old airline joined the global
club on June 2 2014, having made significant
progress in negotiations with the Uganda
Government over the acquisition of a strategic
stake.
Certainly the Government does want to
partner with us to create a strong airline for
Uganda, chief executive Cornwell Muleya said
shortly after receiving his IATA certificate. There
is willingness on both sides to ensure that we have
a strong home-based airline out of Uganda one
which would facilitate the growth of the economy
of Uganda. As the market grows, everybody
wins.
q q q q q
But the upbeat mood was to be short-lived. Just a
fortnight later, Ugandas Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) said it was withdrawing the air operators
certificates (AOCs) of Air Uganda and two local
freight carriers, Transafrik and Uganda Air Cargo.
Despite initially describing it as a temporary
grounding, Air Uganda quickly threw in the towel
and confirmed that all flights were indefinitely
suspended. The carriers three Bombardier
CRJ200s were being returned to their lessors,
Muleya announced in a statement, and there was
no imminent prospect of a re-launch due to the
massive financial losses and reputational
damage caused by the suspension.
Almost immediately, the blame game got under
Almost all of Ugandas airlines
were grounded in June after
shortcomings in the countrys
regulatory oversight came to
light. Martin Rivers assesses the
outlook for would-be flag-carrier
Air Uganda.
Grounded Ugandas
seven-year hitch
way. Ugandas CAA published statements
suggesting that inspectors from ICAO, the UNs
aviation body, had uncovered safety
deficiencies at the grounded airlines during a
routine audit of the authority.
The CAA alleged that recurrent safety
shortcoming at Air Uganda had been reported
on a regular basis in the months preceding the
audit. Despite warning the airline about the
pending review, it said ICAO discovered evidence
of manuals and procedures [being] irregularly
altered an apparent reference to hand-written
notes or photocopies being used on official
documentation by the airlines staff.
q q q q q
The airline failed to demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the auditors that it was operating
in compliance with the established standards and
terms of approval, as had been demonstrated by
the authority, it alleged. [So the] CAA had no
choice but to withdraw the airlines AOC.
Muleya, predictably, had a different
interpretation of events. He argued that ICAO
raised concerns not about the airlines, but rather
about the CAAs inability to effectively supervise
local operators. Facing the prospect of a potential
five-year blacklisting by the international body, he
suggested, the CAA took the extraordinary step
of retrospectively withdrawing all the AOCs it
had issued.
The Ugandan CAA regretably opted on June
17 to withdraw without consulting the airlines
affected AOCs for all international commercial
air operators registered in the country, Muleya
complained. Each carrier was requested to
submit a fresh application for an AOC.
Certainly
the Government
does want to partner
with us to create a
strong airline for
Uganda.
CORNWELL MULEYA
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UGANDA
45
The chief executives narrative appears to have
been validated by The Observer newspaper in
Kampala, which later discovered that several
other Ugandan airlines also had their AOCs
withdrawn Ndege Aviation, Kampala Aeroclub
and Flight Training Centre (KAFTC), Air Surf and
Asante Aviation leaving the country with just
two tiny operators: Aerolink Uganda and Eagle
Air. Ndege Aviation has since gone public,
alleging malpractice by the CAA.
ICAO did not release the findings of its audit,
and Muleya declined to elaborate on his
accusations when questioned in August. He also
would not confirm whether Air Uganda has
initiated a recertification process.
But, whatever the airlines prospects of
returning to the skies, its fledgling route
network is now being redistributed among
foreign operators. RwandAir and Ethiopian
Airlines have been granted fifth-freedom
rights to fly from Entebbe to Juba, South
Sudan and Nairobi, Kenya respectively,
replacing Air Ugandas two most frequently
operated routes.
Prior to its suspension, the de facto flag-carrier
had also served Mombasa in Kenya, Kilimanjaro
and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Bujumbura in
Burundi, and Mogadishu in Somalia.
Muleya was planning to add several new
destinations over the coming five years. We are
looking at three points in the Democratic Republic
of Congo: Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Goma when
the airport runway is completed, he confirmed in
June.
We believe in future we can also connect with
southern African countries, not only South Africa,
but Zambia and Zimbabwe. We are looking at
connecting with Sudan also. And we have a large
population of Eritreans that need connections.
K K K K K
Frequencies on all existing routes were slated to
become twice daily, he added, with management
working towards an order for one or two
additional 50-90 seater regional jets.
Any such fleet expansion would have been agreed
at the group level with shareholder the Aga Khan
Fund for Economic Development, which also holds
equity in Air Burkina, Air Mali and Italys Meridiana.
The intention is that we will develop the
networks together as a group. So we will link Africa
with Europe, and other regions together with group
partners, Muleya explained. Meridiana already
has A320s and 737s, so if we needed that kind of
capacity we could always draw from the group. Its
available. But for now we are developing the
regional business, and there is no focus to get that
type of aircraft.
Sadly all these near-term and long-term plans
have now been put on ice, with the chief executive
unwilling to assert whether Air Uganda has a
realistic prospect of restoring its AOC and resuming
operations.
If there is a silver lining, however, it is surely the
Ugandan Governments avowed pride in its would-
be flag-carrier, which injected a modest but
respectable $15 million directly into the local
economy last year. Air Uganda was founded in 2007
at the instigation of the government, and the
proposed equity partnership Muleya promised
would have cemented its status as a national asset for
years to come.
Whether or not that strategic relationship can be
salvaged from the embarrassing debacle at the CAA
remains to be seen. In the meantime, the only
carriers benefitting from air traffic in and out of
Uganda will be foreign operators.
Air Uganda was operating three Bombardier CRJ200s and
an MD-87 (seen here in the background at Entebbe).
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