Oil boosts air transport

By Vision Reporter

The growing trade between Uganda and China is boosting the air transport sector as the demand for direct fights shoots up. Migrant workers for the oil exploring companies are also boosting the demand for direct daily flights, a top airlines official said recently.

Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis and Lebanese are some of the migrant workers in the oil industry.

“These (migrant workers) are moving back and forth,” Khalid al Zarouni, the Emirates Airlines country manager, said at the launch of a direct daily flight from Entebbe International Airport to Washington, US.

Zarouni said the flight was important to Uganda for its import and export trade. Between 8,000 to 9,000 Ugandans reside in Washington.

“Traffic from the US is growing. We have allocated a new aircraft on this route to make it more seamless,” Zarouni said.

“We know for sure that there is demand, but we are still testing the market. We will change the fares as we go along,” he said in reference to the economy fare of $1,130, $4,200 and $8,500 for business and first class respectively.