One of the country’s most seasoned aviators, Capt. Francis Babu is asking government to bring in foreign and more experienced managers to help in the revival the defunct Uganda Airlines.
No Ugandan at this stage, according to Babu, is exposed enough to spearhead the restoration of the national airline, in this volatile and highly competitive aviation industry.
The national airline, which has since been renamed the Uganda National Airlines Company (UNAC), supposedly not to inherit the liabilities of the old Uganda Airlines that was grounded in 2001; is headed by CEO Ephraim Bagenda.
The Rwandan national previously worked as an Engineer (Director of maintenance and engineering) at Rwandair.
It is said he was handpicked for the position, even though Captain Gad Gasatura, another Rwandan aviator had been considered to head the new airline.
According to Capt. Babu, Uganda from the colonial times has not had enough exposure to the aviation industry.
“Our colonial masters took our education in the direction of civil service; the only scientific thing they went for was medicine. They made sure that they didn’t take us into aviation or engineering,” said Babu who used to be a pilot in the East African Airlines.
“Aviation in Uganda, because of this background, has been problematic. Our idea about aviation is very poor and shallow,” he noted last weekend.
“Even when the East African Community forced us to put up Soroti Flying School, we have up to now failed to resuscitate it.”
Babu says Uganda will need to hire qualified people from foreign countries to manage the revival of the national airline.
These he said will be able to provide on-job training for Ugandans.
“We must not start with these people who are in a learning curve; we need an expert team to train them.
“When I was in Civil Aviation; we got some Ugandans who looked good, but we decided to get people from ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) to train them.
Uganda Airlines Can Shine Again
According to the retired aviator, the Uganda national airline, in the right hands and with the right strategy, can still regain its past glory.
Back in the day before the advent of the high handed Idi Amin, Entebbe Airport was the regional aviation hub. At its launch back in 1951, Entebbe was the largest Airport in Africa. With its relatively low altitude and being strategically placed at the center of the continent, it was an ideal hub for the colonialist, who used it connect to different parts of Africa.
Entebbe Airport, lying at 3780ft Above Sea Level, is advantageously lower that Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the current regional hub, which is at 5320ft ASL.
Because air is thinner at higher altitudes and in hotter temperatures, this means that aircraft leaving Nairobi during the day need a much lighter take-off weight, and thus have to carry fewer passengers, whereas at Entebbe they can take off with the full load.
Entebbe airport, according to Babu, still has all these advantages which can be harnessed to regain its top position.
“If one has a good marketing strategy, you can have a good airline here. All we need is a good model, and good people to run it.”
Airbus or Boeing?
Capt. Babu however, believes officials at the national airline made a mistake by purchasing new Airbus aircraft for the airline relaunch.
UNAC last week placed two orders for 2 Airbus A330-800Neos and 4 Bombardier CRJ900s.
While both aircraft are excellent in terms of efficiency and comfort; there is fear that they will be expensive to maintain.
The Airbus A330-800Neo for instance is owned by no other airline in the world, and its maintenance will most likely involve constant trips to the factory.
Babu says Uganda should have acquired the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is owned by nearly all the other airlines in the region. Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Air Tanzaniaall have Dreamliners.
“The Dreamliner is the most efficient airliner in the world. Even emirates is getting rid of their airbuses and going into Boeings. Why? Because, if you have consortiums in the same area and they work together you reduce the cost of running the airline,” he said.
“Why should we segregate ourselves? We should buy the same aircraft and pool together to maintain them”
Simulators
Even training pilots, according to Babu, will be harder considering that no African airliner owns an Airbus A330Neo flight simulator.
Flight Simulators are very expensive.
Ethiopian Airlines, which is the leading pilot training airline on the continent, has simulators only for the Dreamliner, the Boeing 777, Boeing 765, Boeing 757, the 737 and smaller aircraft.
“Why should we go to America or Europe to train pilots when we can just go to Ethiopia?” he wondered.
Lease
Capt. Babu also believes Uganda should not have rushed to purchase new aircraft.
The airline, he says should have started by mapping its routes and leasing aircraft, to test how they perform on these routes.
“A good new airline should start by coming out with a structure of their route. You start by leasing airplanes of the type you are going to buy. Then you do the route, and see how effective it is and then you buy the aircraft after training your crew, engineers and assessing how the route operates.”
Optimistic
There have been concerns raised especially on social media, on whether or not Uganda Airlines would be convenient enough to win the hearts of travelers.
Many fear for instance that Ugandans are not good enough with time keeping, which is exceptionally essential in air travel.
But Capt. Babu is confident that with the right training and enough exposure, Ugandans will eventually be able to do the job professionally both in management and technically.
He noted for instance that Ugandan pilots used to be the best at the East African Airlines.
He also called on government and the new airline to take time to learn from the mistakes of the grounded Uganda Airlines and avoid them.
By Sam Waswa
Source: chimpreports.com
