Air Uganda takes fight to the market

UGANDA (eTN) – With presently three flights a week between Entebbe to Mombasa and on to Zanzibar, Uganda’s quasi-national airline, U7, is clearly intent to fill those 50 seats in the CRJ 200 they us

UGANDA (eTN) – With presently three flights a week between Entebbe to Mombasa and on to Zanzibar, Uganda’s quasi-national airline, U7, is clearly intent to fill those 50 seats in the CRJ 200 they use on the route. These flights open up the Kenyan coast or the beaches of Zanzibar for wannabe holiday makers. Air Uganda was only recently confirmed as East Africa’s most punctual airline when on-time departure statistics became available from regional regulators from the destinations the airline is flying to in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the South Sudan, including Uganda.

The fare highlights what has been said in Uganda time and again, that the regulatory charges and taxes heaped upon air transport in the region are unreasonably high and kept high through multiple layers of bureau”crazy” – pun fully intended – and a fat cat mentality across the region with a sense of entitlement instead of service by national regulators, as well as CASSOA. Fees and taxes levied on the ticket are nearly twice as much as the fare itself, a damning indictment of failed aviation policies in the region which make the use of air transport too expensive for most to even consider.

So it is bouquets for Air Uganda for their attempt to break down the price barriers and mega barbs for the regulators and respective governments for trying to turn a calf, i.e., the region’s fledgling aviation industry, into a cow to milk.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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