Africa airline appoints new General Sales Agent for Uganda

With just 8 days to go to the inaugural flight of Fastjet to Entebbe – the launch will take place on September 16 – it can now be revealed who the General Sales Agent will be.

Simba Travelcare, located at the Lugogo Mall, has been appointed as General Sales Agent for the airline to serve the Ugandan market. CEO Declan Peppard is no stranger to airlines, having once been Country Manager for British Airways before returning to Uganda and becoming one of Kampala’s leading travel agents.

Fastjet will offer two departures per week between Entebbe and Dar es Salaam before upping the number to four per week on September 29, expecting a sharp rise in demand, triggered by both low fares and nonstop flights once again connecting the two airports. Since the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) emasculated the aviation industry in the country by their decision to withdraw all AOCs for airlines flying on international routes to avoid being cited by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over significant safety concerns, all flights from Entebbe to Dar es Salaam were either routing via Nairobi or Kigali, costing more money and notably a lot more time to reach the final destination. Air Uganda, using their CRJ200 aircraft, served the route twice a day in codeshare with Tanzania’s Precision Air, the latter failing to step in and commence its own flights when Air Uganda had to halt operations, leaving the field to Fastjet.

Compared to the 700 seats per week that Air Uganda offered, Fastjet will start out with 312 seats per week using their Airbus A319, before at the end of the month doubling that number to 624 seats per week.