(Posted 05th April 2024)
The CRJ900, when acquired still called the Bombardier CRJ900, was the first aircraft type bought by Uganda Airlines when the airline was launched.
A total of four such aircraft were ordered directly from the manufacturere in Canada and delivered, put into service and by and large flown since then continuously, apart from the pandemic enforced downtime and scheduled maintenance such as A-checks and B-checks.
Reportedly there were few unscheduled downtimes for the four aircraft, no surprise given they were delivered brand new and kept in shape by a team of local aircraft technicians and the staff of the approved maintenance facilities.
Now, all four of these aircraft are due for the largest technical checks, due to the hours flown and time elapsed, called the C-check.
Each aircraft will be in the hangar of the maintenance facility for several weeks, which would prompt serious challenges to keep the published flight schedule intact.
As a result is the airline currently negotiating a wetlease for an Airbus A320Ceo, to cover for the respective CRJ900’s while undergoing heavy maintenance.
It was learned that major checks, due to time elapsed since being put into service, will also be upcoming for the airline’s Airbus A330-800Neo, which like the CRJ’s were acquired directly and brand new from the manufacturer.
If the choice of an Airbus A320Ceo (Classic Engine Option) is a pointer towards the way the decision for additional new aircraft is going, would at this point be speculative but it was learned that the decision made by the airline’s management and board for additional aircraft is before the Ugandan cabinet for approval.
In neighbouring countries such as Tanzania and Rwanda have the national airlines been given boosts with additional aircraft, both passenger and cargo planes, to be able to cash in on the present travel boom after the global C19 pandemic, allowing them to increase frequencies and add more destinations, across Africa and beyond.
Uganda Airlines too has ambitious plans for expansion but is presently limited vis a vis frequency and route growth, by the number of aircraft operated.
It was also learned that progress has been made to get final approvals for flights between Entebbe and London into place while the route to Guangzhou is on hold, largely as a result of the internal issues China had with inbound and outbound travel, something which only very recently has been addressed by Chinese authorities.
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