At the annual 18th Akwaaba African Travel Market international travel, tourism, and hospitality event held from October 31 to November 1, 2022, in Lagos State, Nigeria, it was double fortune for Uganda as Jenifer Bamuturaki, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Uganda Airlines, bagged one of the recipients of the top 100 African women in travel and tourism award and used the occasion to announce that Uganda Airlines will commence flight operations to Nigeria in December 2022 for the very first time in history .
“I am happy to tell you that we, the Uganda Airlines will begin our flights to Nigeria, first time in history, from December 2022. This will be our first flight to West Africa, we will begin that and then, begin to grow slowly. “When we come to Nigeria, we will be working through the recognized travel agents and tour operators,” she said.
On receiving the Top 100 Award, Bamuturaki also thanked Mr. Ikechi Uko, the convener of AKWAABA Africa Travel and Tourism Market, for recognizing her effort in the travel space.
She encouraged more women to aspire for leadership roles in the tourism and travel industries as she acknowledged how difficult the task could be in a male dominated industry. And difficult it has been for her on the back of being on the receiving end of a male dominated probe into the operations of the airline by (COSASE) Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities of the Uganda Parliament.
“I feel so honored because we are not many women in leadership in the aviation industry. So, to be recognized is a good thing because there are few women in the industry.It is not easy for women, because it is a male dominated society, we have more men flying, more men doing dispatch, and a fewer women. Most women want to go for the easy area which is cabin crew, but I want to encourage women to look at the other side which is the administration and leadership areas, it is fulfilling but difficult,” she said.
“Most of the women in aviation are doing jobs that are operational, so to be in administration is one thing to tell the young girls that you can rise through operations, flights dispatch, and end in leadership where you can see everything from the backside view.
Bamuturaki, with over 15 years of experience in the aviation industry, said that the secret to running a successful airline was to have good managers overseeing various aspects that needed to be monitored.
She said that Uganda Airline was also facing problem due to a hike in aviation fuel as experienced in Nigeria among the local airlines. According to her, the airline has, however, been able to manage the situation by increasing sales of different travel and holiday packages. She advised African airlines to invest in different forms of partnership to improve seamless travels across the continent.
“We have new aircraft, and we have a total number of 6 aircraft. We are known for good services; we can’t increase airfares at the moment,” she said.
“We are looking at our passengers as our guests, and we always want them to be comfortable at all times.”
Uganda Airlines has one of the world’s youngest airlines fleets with an average aircraft age of approximately one year including 4 narrow-body Bombadier CRJ-900 and 2 wide-body Airbus A330Neo that operate a mix of short-, medium-, and long-haul international routes.
A feasibility report on a case for revival of Uganda’s national airline contained in “Uganda’s Vision 2040,” justifies long haul, as stated in Section 3.0 of its International Origin Destination Traffic Analysis.
Internationally, the Sabre 2014 Origin destination report shows that there are key traffic profiles to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, which represent a good customer base for developing viable long-haul air services for Uganda Airlines. Long-haul flights are required to connect Uganda to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Based on the traffic figures in the report, the plan for Uganda Airlines targets flights to London, Amsterdam-Brussels, Dubai, Johannesburg, Lagos, Doha, and Mumbai.
Since its launch in 2018, Uganda Airlines has so far begun regional routes to Nairobi, Juba, Mombasa, Mogadishu, Bujumbura, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar with the first flight out of Africa to Dubai in October 2021, just in time for the start of the 6-month Dubai Expo 2020. New long-haul planned routes in the offing are Guangzhou, China, and London-UK.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, and the launch of flights means more connectivity across the length and breadth of the continent and onward to the Americas through code sharing with mainly US airlines.
(eTN): Uganda national carrier touching down soon in Nigeria | re-post license | post content
