20-year break has ended! Uganda Airways flying once more to Johannesburg
Uganda Airlines started regular scheduled flights between Entebbe International Airport and OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, yesterday morning, May 31, 2021.
- It has been 20 years since the airline’s last flight to South Africa before it was originally liquidated in 2001.
- The South African High Commissioner in Uganda, Her Excellency Lulu Xingwana, has marked the maiden flight in Entebbe.
- The aircraft, a Mitsubishi CRJ 900, was greeted with the traditional water salute.
Upon launch, Xingwana urged Ugandans to explore more investment opportunities in South Africa than tourism and that South Africans would reciprocate now that a direct flight has been set up that everyone has been waiting for for quite some time, she said.
On board the flight were the head of the civil service and cabinet secretary Dr. John Mitala; Permanent Secretary, Department of Transportation, Waiswa Bageya; The High Commissioner of Uganda for South Africa, Her Excellency Barbara Nekesa; Stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry; and the media.
Nekesa echoed the words of her colleague who said that there are a number of Ugandans who have done a lot of business and worked in Entebbe and South Africa and this is a sigh of relief that will help them reach each other’s capitals in record time.
Several South African companies have invested in Uganda over the past 20 years, including MTN Mobile Telecom Network, Game Stores, Shoprite Supermarket and Eskom Power.
“We should have covered 18 routes by now, but the COVID lockdown has held us back so the launch of this route is in line with our business plan,” said Jennifer Banaturaki, acting CEO of Uganda Airlines. She added that the airline plans to add the Airbus Neo 300-800 series to the Air Operator Certificate on June 30, 2021, which will then commence flights to Dubai.
