(Posted 17th January 2022)
Uganda Airlines’ fleet of six aircraft comprising two Airbus A338Neo’s and four CRJ900’s
series, with an average age of 1.15 years, has been ranked as the youngest fleet in Africa as well as in the world by CH Aviation.
The award ceremony, held virtually today, dedicated to airlines across the globe keeping a young,
modern and efficient fleet of new generations’ aircraft, also covers airlines contribution towards fuel
efficiency, sustainable development, including significant improvement in decreasing carbon
emissions.
It was in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively, that Uganda Airlines took delivery of four brand new CRJ900’s from Bombardier as part of its fleet development plan, before adding two equally brand new Airbus A330-800Neo’s in December 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
Equipped with the latest inflight technology, the two Airbus aircraft deliver an average of 20
per cent fuel savings per flight compared to similar competitor models and the older A330 types.
Powered by the new generation Rolls Royce engines, the aircraft also produce a sharply reduced
noise footprint and nitrogen oxides (N0x) playing a significant role in the environmental initiatives
of the airline.
It is understood that the airline is presently also evaluating additional aircraft purchases to fill the gap between the short and short-medium haul CRJ’s and the long haul, state of the art A330 wide body aircraft, to tap into crucial connecting traffic via Entebbe from a widening network across Africa. Leading contender is according to usually well informed sources the state of the art Airbus A220-300, an aircraft type also operated by such other African airlines like Egypt Air and Air Tanzania.
However like all airlines in Africa and across the world has Uganda Airlines’ planned growth and network expansion also been hit by the global pandemic, which saw traffic numbers impacted. Flight bans, including the most recent one by the UAE, have also had a major impact on the airline as flights between Entebbe and Dubai had swiftly turned into one of the airline’s most profitable routes.
Third place for Africa’s youngest fleet has been awarded to Air Seychelles as reported earlier today by www.ATCNews.org, maintaining an average aircraft age of 4.3 years whilst Kenya’s Jambojet, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, which operates six de Havilland (formerly also Bombardier) DHC8-Q400s averaging 2.78 years old is ranked second in Africa.
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