(Posted 20th February 2026)
Aviation pundits in Uganda, the wider East Africa region and from across the continent agree that the former management of Uganda Airlines are the primary culprits for this untenable situation, where both of the airline’s long haul aircraft are out of service for what has been termed ‘Unscheduled Maintenance’.
The first such incident saw an A330-800Neo stuck in Lagos for several weeks, with the company’s management at the time appearing helpless if not outright hapless, to have the aircraft brought back into service, a sign of and level of incompetent displayed which defies logic and has one question the capacity to hold high office in a national airline.
The going out of service of the second long haul aircraft today prompted the following statement from the company – and ATCNews has been told off the record that the new Acting CEO Ato Girma Wake has mobilized all his global contacts to bring relief to the airline and have the outstanding and pending maintenance fast tracked.
The option to rebook passengers to London, Dubai and Mumbai to other airlines is an expensive one but almost inevitable should Uganda Airlines not lose the lase element of respect by travelers.
When one or both aircraft return to service will ATCNews inform readers immediately.
