East African airliner Uganda Airlines is looking to partner with South African Airways to boost traffic to its routes between Entebbe and Johannesburg.
The Kampala-based carrier looks to tap into the wider southern Africa market.
According to AirInsight, the carrier added a fifth flight to the service starting March 1 with an aim to plug leakages of traffic to competitors and to support a burgeoning cargo business.
BusinessTech Africa understands that the new schedule has flights operating on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, as well as Saturday.
“The route has a lot of potential because of the strong demand for business, conferences, education, and leisure travel. We are looking to develop this route to support these market segments,” said Shakila Lamar, the manager for corporate affairs and public relations at the carrier.
Lamar added that the route’s potential had been somewhat blunted by the fact that the carrier could not offer onward travel to destinations beyond Johannesburg in South Africa and the southern Africa region in general.
However, that will be resolved in the near future, when an interline with the Johannesburg-based SAA starts operating, extending Uganda Airlines’ reach beyond Johannesburg.
“The tendency for last-minute bookings by travellers on the route was resulting in “significant leakages” of traffic,” reports the portal.
“A tighter schedule with more options for travel on the carrier is expected to consolidate passenger traffic.
“The easing or removal of Covid-19 travel restrictions for vaccinated travellers in South Africa and Uganda is also expected to generate additional demand.”
While flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday will be operated using the Mitsubishi CRJ900, the Friday service will use an Airbus A330-800.
Lamar said the reason behind that is because of the heavy demand for cargo on the outbound leg, driven by growing exports of fruits and fresh vegetables.
Additionally, products such as beef and legumes are also expected to join the list of South Africa-bound products from Uganda.
The two countries at the end of February concluded this year’s edition of the Uganda and South Business Forum, where Ugandan firms secured commitments for more than one million tons of produce.
“We are looking at improving connectivity and could even go daily as the loads pick up,” Shakila told AirInsight.
