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Uganda Airlines makes history with Lagos flight
A section of passengers board a Uganda airlines’ 258-seater Air bus A330-800 neo at Entebbe international Airport on Thursday for the carrier’s maiden direct flight to Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos. PHOTO/PAUL ADUDE
Uganda Airlines’s maiden direct flight to Africa’s most populous country taxied at Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, at about 6:30pm local time.
The airbus A330-800 neo was welcomed with a water salute after a flight that spanned three and a half hours. Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki, the chief executive of Uganda’s flag carrier, wasted no time in making a business pitch.
“[This] means if you are going to Mumbai [India,] you don’t have to go through nations. Just come to Entebbe in three and a half hours and then connect to Mumbai in about another six hours or to Dubai,” she said.
Leading the Ugandan delegation on this historic flight was Mr Fred Byamukama, the junior Transport minister.
“What does it mean to cut 10 hours to just three and a half hours?” he rhetorically asked, adding, “It means that businesses are going to grow since most of the goods we get from the market are expensive due to the huge transportation costs.”
Ms Susan Kushaba, a Kampala-based businesswoman who was aboard the airbus, said she looks forward to making the most of the airlines’ low fares.
“We, the traders, are happy because the fares are low, and we are happy with the introduction of this direct flight. Trade is going to boom between the two countries,” she said.
Ms Ann Frida Nandutu, the chief executive of Paradise Bugisu Coffee, hopes to use the direct flight “to showcase [the] uniqueness of Ugandan coffee” to a West African market.
Ms Rusia Orikiriza, another businesswoman who manufactures paper bags and boxes on Mityana Road, sees brighter days ahead for her business.
“Nigeria being the biggest economy in Africa, this is an opportunity to be explored,” she told Sunday Monitor.
The Lagos route is the 13th of the airline’s expanding network. It comes barely a fortnight after the launch of another direct flight from Entebbe to Mumbai. The Entebbe-Lagos flight will be thrice a week (Monday, Thursday and Sunday).
