The war in Iran has given Uganda airlines an opportunity to reinvent itself

By Nathan Namatati

It broke my heart at the beginning of the year when Uganda Airlines started cancelling and delaying their flights to London.

As someone who has lived here for a long time and travels to Uganda at least twice a year, I was excited when the direct flight was launched, as using connection flights had become tiring from losing luggage to missing connections.

Uganda Airlines had come at the time we needed it most. We became the envy of other Ugandans in the diaspora, especially from USA and the rest of Europe.

WhatsApp groups were buzzing when they launched last year. Full of excitement but also with lots of scepticism as to whether the airline would be managed well with the current government. I was one of those who pushed with all excitement for BUBU with Uganda Airlines.

When cancellations, delays and all the chaos that happened from the beginning of the year became the order of the day, I started receiving "I told you so messages".

Which were all right, as things were not going well. Most people who were planning to use the airline this summer started looking for options.

But at the beginning of this month, something happened that changed that. The US-Israel -Iran war has helped shape and redefine air travel. War is raging in the Middle East, airspaces are closed, missiles and drones are having the day.

Coveted airports have been rendered inoperable at the moment, and expensive fleets have been grounded awaiting clearance to fly.

In Dubai during peak hours, an aeroplane would take off every one to two minutes, which averages almost 1200 total daily aircraft. Although not close, it is almost the same story as Doha.

But now the skies are quiet, maybe one aeroplane an hour in the day is good. Tourists are stranded; people are paying out of their skin to get out of there, but most of all, nobody is flying there.

There is an article today in the BBC that tourism bookings for Spain has spiked for Easter as tourists have had to cancel trips to Dubai and other Middle Eastern countries and are now instead going to Spain.

I am not grovelling in their misfortune, but I see an opportunity for Africa, especially my beloved Uganda. This is a two-edged opportunity.

One is to attract tourists to the pearl of Africa, and the other is to attract passengers for our beloved airline. If I was the government, this would be the time to run most adverts about Uganda, the pearl of Africa, as currently it is going to take a long time for tourists to want to book holidays in the Middle East until lasting stability is established.

It is time to start advertising our game parks. A Murchison Falls game park is far more beautiful than the artificial Dubai safari park. It is time to sit down with the ‘’Wekesas’’ to see what can be done in the shortest time possible to build on the opportunity created.

This window will not last long; therefore, maximising would be a great opportunity for Uganda and Africa as a whole. It is the first time we are projecting more stability in a very long time.

Currently, organisations are looking at their continuity plans for travel of their executives, many of them are now choosing the most ludicrous but safe routes, and I have, for the first time, seen Uganda Airlines, Kenya and Rwanda Airlines being considered, of course, alongside Ethiopian Airlines as the preferred airlines to use.

Even Egypt Air is being excluded due to its proximity to the conflict. It is so sad that we have a small fleet and less connectivity. But maybe this is something wet leases can address.

But since I am not an airline expert, I don’t know what that entails, but as a businessman and banker, I know there is opportunity to harness, and we need to take it quickly.

Away from the points listed above, I will now summarise strategic opportunities that have been presented to Uganda on a silver plate and need to be leveraged.

First, Uganda Airlines needs to aim to capture traffic diverted from blocked Middle Eastern corridors, immediately start promoting Entebbe as a safer transit alternative to Dubai/Doha, especially for passengers transiting to southern Africa and finally take opportunity to increase revenue in the cargo demand created from disrupted regional supply chains.

This would be the time for Uganda Airlines to reintroduce their 3 bags promotion to encourage Ugandans who are busy cancelling Middle Eastern airlines for the summer to book.

This would be a time for Uganda Airlines to push for top-notch customer service and avoid any delays and cancellations, so that people can start trusting the airline again.
This is the time for it to run all sorts of family promotions and even start partnering with hotels and travel agencies to have holiday package bookings.

I can go on and on, but one thing I can surely say is that the war has given Uganda Airlines another opportunity to reinvent itself. This is the time to throw everything they can to make it count.

Every staff member should be giving their best, from the cleaners to the pilots. Uganda Airlines can either maximise Middle Eastern misfortune for good or watch as others like Ethiopian take advantage due to their size.

I believe this is a free growth opportunity for our airline and tourism in Uganda, and I think the new CEO and government should take it with both hands.

The writer works in Finance and is an international development practitioner living in Bristol, UK