Let’s give Uganda Airlines a chance

After being grounded for nearly two decades, Uganda Airlines made its inaugural flight to Nairobi two days ago and its first commercial flight to Juba yesterday.
The news of reviving the national carrier has been received with mixed feelings by many Ugandans right from the start. There are many Ugandans who consider the revival of the national carrier as yet another government project in which huge investment is made only for it to go down the drain within a few years.

Therefore, it was not surprising when many comments, especially on social media, that welcomed the inaugural flight on Tuesday, were negative. Some criticised the food to be served in the airline as not good enough!

But all the negativities, some of which we are entitled to aside, let us give Uganda Airlines a chance. Whereas there are many government parastatals that are performing dismally to the disappointment of the citizens, some are actually performing well. Which means that if some entities are managed well, they can perform.

But for this to happen to Uganda Airlines, the government must make effort to run it as a business. First, let us look at the basics: In his speech read by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda while launching the first flight at Entebbe International Airport on Tuesday, President Museveni said, “Each year, Ugandans spend $450 million to other countries through foreign travel. Besides, there is a lot of inconvenience to travelling Ugandans by not having direct flights and even being charged discriminative fares.”

Uganda’s tourism sector is also growing. According to Uganda Bureau of Standards (2016), abstract travels from the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and the DR Congo were 64 per cent of all visitor, or tourism arrivals. An affordable and well managed airline can tap into these numbers, but its management must avoid past mistakes that were characterised by mismanagement and corruption that ultimately run down the airline.

The government should not regard the airlines as a free carrier for its officials, army and police officers. If they must travel by the national carrier, the government must pay and must do so in time to enable the airline make money.

Recruiting leadership and staff for the airline should be based on merit. In other words, there should be more seriousness and commitment in running this airline considering that it is entering an already highly competitive aviation market.

For now, let’s give Uganda Airlines a chance, bearing in mind that experience is the best teacher. Having failed in the past, it may learn from its mistakes.