The Director General Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) Mr Fred Bamwesigye has revealed that the Authority is set to investigate Uganda Airlines over a repeated series of flight disruptions that have left a number of passengers traveling with the airline stranded in the past few days.
While responding to the questions during the UCAA’s a stakeholder engagement in Kampala on Tuesday, Bamwesigye acknowledged that the authority is concerned with the occurrences at the airline, even though they don’t present immediate safety concerns and will carry out thorough investigations to establish the causes of the flight delays.
“We are going to conduct investigations to establish the issues and determine the appropriate way forward”Bamwesigye said.
Uganda Airlines has been in the spotlight after several passengers reported missing their flights in the past few days.
Several intending travellers with Uganda’s national carrier have taken to social media to express their frustration after they were left stranded without help at Entebbe International Airport departure check-in counters.
In a December 13 statement, the airline reported disruptions of its scheduled flight operations and noted that it was focusing on ensuring the full restoration of its regular service; however, this did little to quell agitated travellers online.
While appearing on NBS Tv on Monday, the C.E.O Uganda Airlines Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki revealed that currently two aircrafts, an Airbus A330-800neos and one Bombardier CRJ900 jet in it’s fleet are grounded due to technical problems.
“There’s one in Lagos (Nigeria), because we cannot find the spare part and that’s being sourced, not because we don’t have it in the stores, but because it’s a part that is not ordinarily stocked” she said.
Ms Bamuturaki denied allegations that the Airline was stuck both in Lagos, Nigeria and London in the United Kingdom, noting that the Airbus flight from London Gatwick Airport had landed at Entebbe on Monday evening.
