Uganda
Low cost airline takes to local skies
Missed flights, overbooking and poor customer care once a common feature on the lucrative Entebbe-Nairobi route, will soon be a thing of the past as another operator joins the airspace.
Fly540, a recently established low cost airline based in Nairobi, Kenya, will be operating two daily flights leaving Entebbe at 10:00am and 6:00pm.
With their modern turbo prop ATR 42-320 aircraft, which seats 48 passengers, Fly540 will be offering a one-way fare of $79 (Shs132,000) taxes inclusive for a one way ticket and $158 (Shs262,000) for a return ticket.
"We are bringing affordability to the region," said Fly540's operations manager Mr Nixon Ooko at the launch in Kampala on April 23.
"The promise at 540 is that we will provide a friendly and reliable service for cost conscious passengers and we hope to have an Entebbe based operation in the second half of the year"
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Managing Director Ambrose Akandonda said the coming in of more airlines on the Nairobi route will check the volatile costs travellers have been facing.
Mr Akandonda said having more airlines on the route is a good move for the region as it pursues the common market.
"In Uganda, it's a liberalised air transport environment. It's al about providing good service. Once you satisfy the safety, security and other vital requirements, we have no problem," Mr Akandonda said.
"This is a proactive and dynamic business approach you are bringing because we now have an initiative of lower costs. Show others that this can be done so that the mindset of people paying high costs is a thing of the past" Fly 540 is a new invention in the aviation, which existed many years ago.
The airline, which introduced low cost travel in Kenya in 2006, also operates daily flights between Nairobi and Mombasa. In Kenya, Fly540 currently operates services from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Lamu, Malindi, Eldoret and Kisumu.
allafrica.com
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