Summary
- Uganda Airlines plans to launch London flights by the end of 2024.
- The carrier met with British Airways for potential interline agreements.
- The route’s success hinges on competitive pricing and tapping into connecting flights.
Earlier this week, it emerged that Uganda Airlines is preparing to launch flights to London later this year, supported by potential interline agreements with British Airways, the UK flag carrier.
A team from Uganda Airlines, including CEO Jenifer Bamuturaki, has met with several authorities, organizations, and groups in the British capital as the carrier once again prepares to enter the Entebbe-London market.
This is not new: having secured slots at London’s Heathrow Airport in December 2020 and February 2021, it had initially planned to begin flights at the end of March that same year. However, this was pushed back to May 2021, before being moved to September 2021 and then November 2022. This routine continues to this day, with the Ugandan High Commission in London putting forth the new and vague “end of 2024” timeline.
Photo: Airbus
End-of-2024 start date and a British Airways codeshare agreement
On Facebook, the Uganda High Commission in London posted that the carrier was preparing to launch flights to London by the end of this year.
“A team from Uganda Airlines led by the CEO, Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki, was in the UK from 11 – 15 June 2024 for meetings with UK aviation authorities, the business community and the Uganda Diaspora in preparation for the upcoming launch of direct flights between London and Entebbe expected by the end of 2024.”
Interestingly, Uganda Airlines also met with representatives from British Airways, namely the Head of Partnerships at British Airways.
“They held meeting with the High Commissioner, H.E. Nimisha Madhvani and Mission staff, the UK Trade Envoy to Uganda, Lord Dolar Popat, the Head of Partnerships at British Airways on possible interline arrangements, UK importers and exporters and the Ugandan Diaspora community leaders, among others.”
This is particularly relevant given the importance of connecting flights. As Uganda Airlines will operate from Heathrow, a codeshare agreement with British Airways could allow it to tap into additional markets, particularly to destinations in North America that are challenging to reach directly from Entebbe.
Is the Entebbe-London flight financially viable?
As Simple Flying reported back in September 2022, securing the aircraft and slots are not enough to make such a route successful. Aside from the heavy cost of flying to London Heathrow, a connection from Entebbe may simply not make financial sense. Note that British Airways cut its own route to the Ugandan capital in 2015. At the time, the airline said:
“We are continually reviewing our flight schedules and have decided that, at this time, the route is not commercially viable.”
However, perhaps things have changed. In 2019, 84,000 people flew between the two cities roundtrip or roughly 1615 people per day. Should Uganda Airlines stick to its original plan (one of many), a thrice-weekly service would mean about 270 people each way. It plans to use its fleet of two A330-800neos, configured with 258 seats per ch-aviation, meaning, in theory, flights can be filled with point-to-point passengers.
Photo: Airbus
However, to fill the planes, a mix of competitive pricing, quality service, and no loss of demand is required: in other words, Uganda Airlines needs to emerge as the preferred option against other one-stop options in order to fill its flights. Egyptair, Rwandair, Ethiopian Airlines, and Qatar Airways (among others) are generally well-established and competitive airlines in the UK-East Africa market.
Connecting flights will also be crucial to this success from both London and Entebbe. Tapping into demand from or to other destinations regionally could help the carrier fill its planes.
While this is not necessarily different from what British Airways attempted, Uganda recently advanced to a “lower-middle-income country” per the UN earlier this year, thanks to an increase in health, education, and income levels, coupled with the rise of the middle class. This could mean demand (and yields) are higher than previously.
This is simply an assumption, though, as it is unclear what the Uganda Airlines Entebbe-London flights might look like in terms of price, service, and overall quality.
Will Uganda Airlines make London-Entebbe work? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.