Uganda national air carrier revival to eat into Kenyan Airways’ profits

FILE PHOTO: Kenya Airways Boeing 737 planes are seen parked at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport near Kenya's capital Nairobi

FILE PHOTO: Kenya Airways Boeing 737 planes are seen parked at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport near Kenya's capital Nairobi

Published Jun 11, 2018

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JOHANNESBURG - Kenya Airways and its subsidiary Jambojet are set to face stiffer competition on Africa routes after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced plans to revive his country's national carrier.

Kenya Airways and low cost subsidiary JamboJet have capitalised on the lack of a national airline in Uganda by monopolising the market, Uganda’s Daily Monitor reported on Monday.

But this may be about to change after Museveni last week told parliament the government would revive the airline “to invigorate our services sector.”

“The government will revive the Uganda Airlines. We have already booked slots for the manufacture of medium and long–distance planes,” he said.

Annually, Ugandans spend Sh43 billion ($430 million) on air travel, Museveni said, describing it as a “haemorrhage that must stop.”

This will mean that Kenya Airways' 15-year domination of the East African skies will face stiff competition, resulting in a drop in revenue as Kampala attempts to claw back regional routes and kick-start a global reach.

This is not the first challenge to Kenya Airways as it increasingly faces challenges from national carriers in other African countries including South African Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.

- African News Agency (ANA)

 

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