Why new Uganda Airlines may not fly

Revival. An illustration of a grounded Uganda Airlines plane. Government says four Bombardier aircrafts with 80-100 passenger capacity will arrive and start flying by December under the Ugandan Airlines banner.

What you need to know:

  • Interview. Addressing journalists on the NRM manifesto implementation recently, Works and Transport minister Monica Ntege Azuba announced that four Bombardier aircrafts with 80-100 passenger capacity will arrive and start flying by December under the Ugandan Airlines banner.
  • Ivan Okuda met David Basobokwe, a retired aeronautical engineer with 35 years of experience who is critical of the way government is going about starting a national carrier.

Let’s start with an introduction of who you are
I am David Basobokwe, aged 65 years. I have worked with airlines for 30 years; I worked with Uganda Airlines in the 1980s, worked with DAS Air, moved to Nigeria and finally worked in England for 26 years as a technical officer at Gatwick Airport and most of the time I was flying airplanes that carry cargo.

What is the story, in summary, of the collapse of Uganda Airlines?
There was a lot of intrigue, no spares, everybody was taking whatever was available, and no one was working for Uganda Airlines. It began going down in 1980s when I was still there.

So it is not true as some people argue, that the Museveni administration killed Uganda Airlines?
No, it is not true. When Obote returned he came with his own people just as Museveni did and they broke down the airline. Museveni came and finished it off so Museveni didn’t break it, he only finished it off. As soon as Idi Amin left the airline began to dwindle.

So we can say under Amin Uganda Airlines saw its glory days, what did he do right that Obote and Museveni didn’t?
That is correct. Amin was very illiterate but passionate about airlines, he would provide training, spares, and whatever was necessary but none of these two guys gave anything.

Fast forward to 2018, government is in high gear to revive Uganda Airlines. What do you make of this development?
They want to do it the wrong way. They have decided to buy four Bombardier aeroplanes to do internal and external flights. Those aircrafts are too many for the job. Two planes can fly in a day and finish South Africa and East Africa so you don’t need four.
Secondly I don’t understand what informed them to buy four Bombardiers and two airbuses. What comparison did they have with the other planes and why did they source planes from two places because that is going to be an issue when it comes to technical assistance, as you will have to run to France and Canada. So why did they buy from different sources? When you have Volkswagen and Toyota, you will run to different garages. All those are issues they didn’t consider.

A feasibility study was undertaken and a paper on the revival of Uganda’s national carrier recommended these type of planes
A study is meaningless when it comes to practical work. This is a billion dollar investment, it is impossible for Uganda to do it the way they are doing things now. There is no passenger that is waiting to board Uganda Airlines, not a single passenger is waiting so how will they break into that market? Why did British Airways leave? I know because I spoke to the CEO after they left. I cannot let government address a problem I know is going to happen.
Government can put in billions of money but you are depriving people of basic social services in the name of an airline that won’t make $10 for you in 10 years and you know you can’t do it.

Kenya and Rwanda have done it, why not Uganda?
What informs you they are doing well? Why go into trouble if you know your neighbour is in trouble? I am running a loss making project, why should you come to the same project? Would you be having brains in your head?

Government’s take is that investment in the national carrier should be considered as an infrastructure for enhancing the country’s global connectivity and competitiveness beyond direct financial benefits
What is the use of bringing 20 tourists from the UK to Uganda who will give you say $50 and you lose a million? Does that make sense to you? No one is saying we shouldn’t have an airline but we should start in a humble way with the infrastructure in place.

What does that infrastructure look like? Please break it down.
As part of basic infrastructure you need confirmed agencies to give you passengers. You can’t say since Kenya Airways flies 50 passengers from Dubai so we shall fly 50. It doesn’t work that way. You must have a confirmed agreement with the supplier of those passengers which we don’t have. We are working on hypothesis and wishful thinking.
You must have airline handling equipment in place which costs about $2 million. From the way things are, cargo will be handled by ENHAS (Entebbe Handling Services) and they will be making money.

What infrastructure do we not have in place that makes you sceptical about the revival of the airline?
There is no catering service, no hanger to repair those planes when they get a problem, no cargo shade with cold storage where you bring cargo before it is cleared. All this infrastructure is missing. If you put a manager in London and say you will get passengers to Entebbe you will be wasting time.
Managers don’t bring passengers as they come from agencies who know them so you don’t need managers in those places to get clients. This is the costly mistake we made with the defunct Uganda Airlines and are repeating now. You have to sign confirmation agreements with agents to give you passengers, agree on rates and schedule.

Sceptical. David Basobokwe, a retired aeronautical engineer with 35 years of experience. PHOTO BY IVAN OKUDA

How do you know these basics for such a humongous project are not in place?
I know Entebbe very well!

Yes you do but you aren’t privy to internal processes for the revival of the airline
There is nothing in Entebbe for you to start Uganda Airlines, you only have DAS Air and ENHAS, the moment you start Uganda Airlines they won’t let you have the infrastructure to handle Uganda Airlines. So you must have your own infrastructure in place.

What would it take for us to have this infrastructure?
Money, equipment, a hanger, catering, ground handling, that and more will cost about $5 million.

That is chicken feed for government. By the click of a mouse it can be made available
Chicken feed for government of Uganda? Are you serious? That is a lot of money. This government has no money at all.

NPA’s feasibility study proposes the option of leasing the aircrafts so we are not short of options
That is an option but why did they go into buying if they looked at it? No one today buys an aeroplane because it places the entire responsibility of maintenance, insurance on you.
You can wet lease in which case you are supplied the plane, the company does the maintenance and you only carry passengers. You get little money but you have no losses. You can also dry lease wherein the company gives you a plane, you supply the crew, put your own fuel, pay them per hour of a flight and still you don’t make losses but owning a plane?
Oh God! What Uganda is trying to do is like saying you want to buy Buckingham Palace (in the UK) and look for people to rent it when you can’t even paint a single room in that palace.

What have other countries done that we can learn from?
You have got to lease. It is the best option, whether dry or wet lease but you can’t buy as an option. In Africa, Ethiopian Airlines normally deals with Boeing, they usually do half- half, (buy and lease) so they share the losses and profits with the aeroplane producers and when they want a plane they give specifications of what they want based on what they have studied but for you to just buy as we are doing isn’t business.

What did Kenya, Rwanda do wrong considering that they are choking on heavy losses, again, aware of the government argument that airline business doesn’t make profit as early as you start?
They are buying planes and operating planes as Uganda wants to do.

Are their challenges as simple as that?
Yes! If you don’t start in a humble way and create an environment where you will attract clients that is what happens. It is not like running a taxi from Gayaza to Kampala, aviation business is so competitive. Personally if a Uganda Airlines plane landed in the UK near my home at Gatwick, I will not board it. I would rather fly SN Brussels because they keep time unlike African airlines where poor time keeping is a normal practice.

Surely someone involved in the revival process of the airline will frown on reading this interview and dismiss you as a mere prophet of doom
No, I am talking from experience and knowledge and in 10 to 20 years you will see what I am telling you, you will park those planes in Entebbe and break them into sigiri (charcoal stoves).

The President has been excited and revival of the airline is his pet subject these days. What is your advice to him?
I sympathise with that President of yours. He is in between a rock and hard place. As a matter of example, I will comment on the withdrawal of the UN from the base in Entebbe. Museveni thought they are his, that he owned the UN base now when they decide to leave he is yelling but that is being naïve because you should have known that at one time they will leave. What will he do with that air base now in Entebbe? He has no clue what to do but I have a clue. He can turn that airbase into an international aircraft parking yard where people can fly from wherever and keep their planes there for whatever purpose. It can accommodate 50-100 planes and you can charge each $20 per hour instead of letting it become a bush. But Museveni doesn’t know what he is doing. On this airline issue particularly the President wouldn’t know what is happening because he is fed on lies, there is no truth in whatever they are telling him. They study him and tell him what he wants to hear, he wouldn’t want to listen to what I am telling you because he is consuming all types of lies.

Basobokwe’s take on Key issues

On collapse of Uganda Airlines
There was a lot of intrigue, no spares, everybody was taking whatever was available, and no one was working for Uganda Airlines. It began going down in 1980s when I was still there.

On reviving Uganda Airlines
They want to do it the wrong way. They have decided to buy four Bombardier aeroplanes to do internal and external flights. Those aircrafts are too many for the job. Two planes can fly in a day and finish South Africa and East Africa so you don’t need four. Secondly I don’t understand what informed them to buy four Bombardiers and two airbuses.
What comparison did they have with the other planes and why did they source planes from two places because that is going to be an issue when it comes to technical assistance, as you will have to run to France and Canada. So why did they buy from different sources? When you have Volkswagen and Toyota, you will run to different garages. All those are issues they didn’t consider.

On Kenya and Rwanda airlines
What informs you they are doing well? Why go into trouble if you know your neighbour is in trouble? I am running a loss making project, why should you come to the same project? Would you be having brains in your head?

On infrastructure for Uganda airlines
As part of basic infrastructure you need confirmed agencies to give you passengers. You can’t say since Kenya Airways flies 50 passengers from Dubai so we shall fly 50. It doesn’t work that way.
You must have a confirmed agreement with the supplier of those passengers which we don’t have. We are working on hypothesis and wishful thinking.
You must have airline handling equipment in place which costs about $2 million.
From the way things are, cargo will be handled by ENHAS (Entebbe Handling Services) and they will be making money.