Interview: Air Uganda set to soar

Air Uganda, which started operations two weeks ago, has received a new Chief Executive Director, Mr Peter De Waal. Joseph Olanyo talked to him on the airline's prospects. Excerpts:

Since the collapse of Uganda Airlines, Uganda has had a nasty experience of airlines coming in and collapsing. Will Air Uganda survive?
Yes, without any doubt. The difference is that Air Uganda was set up by professionals.
We studied the project and with the back up of Agakhan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) and Air Meridian, we will be able to set up 100 per cent quality to people locally and globally.

How are you going to ensure your airline does not collapse?
By offering the best quality to the travelling public. We want 100 per cent punctuality, competitive price with the competition.
We will offer a competitive price for a good product and we shall always be innovative.

We will be launching products every two months. In February 2008, we expect to launch our "Frequent Flier Card" whereby travellers gain mileage and receive free tickets.  What is important is to make the strength and better relations with the clients.

We also have customer care department, which handles complaints and we are open to the public for consultations at any time.  We will not have flight cancellations. We have the obligation to fly even when there are few passengers.

What is your assessment of the market in the few weeks of operation?
From our market surveys, we have found out that that 95 per cent of the passengers approve the services of Air Uganda, 77 per cent of the passengers rate the service as good to excellent, 44 per cent of the passengers rate the service as excellent and 3 per cent rate the service poor. So this is good for us.

We have offered a free ticket to our 1000th passenger.  I also felt that the market is doubtful in choosing to fly with Air Uganda because of the past experience. But we will take away this doubt with the quality of our service to the public. ***image1***

All the remarks came up with a suggestion that Air Uganda is giving a good service. What is important is that Air Uganda has sympathy [care] to the passengers.

The check in is done with a big sympathy [care] and great efficiency and that makes passengers happy.

Where do you see the business coming from?         
Business is coming from different categories. Business people, family travellers and tourists are flying with Air Uganda.
We are strengthening our relationships with travel agents in order to offer a good service.

It is clear that we have to conquer the market and we believe in Air Uganda. We are still concentrating ourselves on passengers. On the cargo side, we are still doing a market survey to evaluate the potential and it will be included in three to four month's time.

You are coming in at a time when the market in the region is competitive. What immediate incentives are you going to do to tap business to your side?
Air Uganda is not prepared for a tariff war. We will compete on the basis of quality. It is a combination of quality and sympathy [care] to the travelling public. Like I said earlier, we shall be launching products that will automatically attract customers.

Apart from flying to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Juba, what future plans do you have?
We have expansion plans, but because of strategic reasons, I can't tell you now. It is dangerous for the competition. But it is clear that we are studying the possibilities of expanding.