News coming in on the Zivuga news desk is not appealing at all after the Uganda National Airlines Company, Uganda Airlines fell into a loss ditch. This came in after Chief Executive Officer Jenifer Bamuturaki said that the national flag carrier needs at least three more years to break even.
According to reports by the Auditor General, it is being informed that, for the last three consecutive financial years, Uganda Airlines’ financial performance has been poor making huge losses.
This is broken down into; 104 billion Shillings in FY 2020/21, 164 billion in FY 2021/22, and 234 billion 2022//23 all totaling to 502 billion Shillings and this has consequently fetched negative media publicity for Uganda Airlines.
These Auditor General’s reports were submitted to Parliament and they prompted further scrutiny of the operations of the Airlines by the Public Accounts Committee on Commission, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) to help shape the entity’s strategic plan.
Furthermore, while in an interview, Uganda Airlines CEO Jenifer Bamuturaki explained that while the audit reports portrayed the Airlines negatively, the losses the entity recorded during the period under review were justifiable citing inevitable variable and administrative costs.
In a bid to curb the losses, Jenifer Bamuturaki said that the company has invested in managing the cost of fuel and oil, maintenance, rentals, and crew through personnel training, process automation and extension of routes among others to enable the Ailrines entity to move towards break-even.
She further revealed that her administration internally has set a timeline of at least three years from now to be able to break even as the Airline currently generates up to 85 percent revenue to meet its direct operation expenses such as maintenance costs, crew costs, landing fees, and navigation charges among others.
It should however be known that, since its inception in 2019, the entity is now blessed with six aircrafts. And, Uganda Airlines flies to about 12 destinations as of 2023 including Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam, Bujumbura, Mogadishu, Zanzibar, Mombasa, Kinsasha, Juba, Lagos, and South Africa among others.
It also operates intercontinental flights to Dubai, Mumbai, London, and Guangzhou.
