By Our Reporter
Uganda Airlines touched down in Kilimanjaro on Wednesday as it was launching its commercial flight. This follows a series of successful launches of commercial flights to Nairobi, Juba, Mogadishu, Dar es Salaam, Bujumbura and Mombasa.
Kilimanjaro is now the 7th official destination to which Uganda Airlines flies.
The event was graced by the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. Monica Azuba Ntege at Entebbe International Airport.
In her speech she said, “For Uganda Airlines to be flying to Tanzania is a great milestone in the development of our nation and in building relations with other countries. This will enhance the relationship between Uganda and Tanzania. With this kind of milestone, The East African Community is developing in infrastructure. Uganda Airline will reduce on the foreign expenditure since Ugandans would now be spending their travel money on their own air carrier.”
The CEO, Uganda Airlines, Mr. Cornwell Muleya noted in his speech, “Kilimanjaro is now the 7th official destination to which Uganda Airlines flies and we will operate direct flights to Kilimanjaro International Airport three times a week, that is, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.”
He added, “There are some exciting developments in the pipeline, and we will soon expand our route network to include Kinshasa in DRC, Zanzibar, Asmara in Eritrea, Hargeisa in Somaliland, Lusaka in Zambia, Harare in Zimbabwe, Johannesburg in South Africa, Djibouti, and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.”
UR flight 302* took-off from Entebbe International Airport at 10:00am and touched down at Kilimanjaro International Airport, by 11:15am.
Passengers aboard the flight were welcomed by Uganda High Commissioner to Tanzania, Richard Tumusiime Kaboonero, Tanzania Aviation Officials, Regional Commissioner Tanzania, government officials and the media.
Uganda Airlines will be flying to Kilimanjaro, 3 times weekly on; i.e., Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.
With the recent addition of 2 new aircraft to the fleet, the airline is expected to launch new routes to other countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Djibouti and South Africa.