Uganda Civil Aviation Authority
Tel: +256 414 352000/ 0312 352000 | Fax:+256 414 321401
Email: aviation@caa.co.ug | Web: www.caa.co.ug
 CAA: RwandAir launches Entebbe-Nairobi flights Ugandans travelling to the Kenyan capital Nairobi by air now have a wider menu to choose from after RwandAir launched flights between Entebbe International Airport and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.While presiding over the launch of the Rwandan national carrier’s latest route, Transport Minister Abraham Byandala hailed the coming of a new player on the route.“When Air Uganda services were stopped, the fares went up. Naturally, Ugandans were complaining and rightly so. With the coming in of RwandAir and others, the fares will go down,” he said at the launch of the inaugural flight in Entebbe.RwandAir’s CEO John Mirenge hailed Uganda’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for swiftly giving the airline the license to operate along the route.“It (getting approval) was very easy with the authorities in Uganda, as soon as we put in the request; we were granted rights,” he said. Read more ▪ ICAO report exposes Uganda's CAA inefficiencies The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has used words such as "inconsistent, inefficient and insufficient" in its four paged urgent recommendation to expose the poor performance of the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) in the audit on its operations.According to ETN news,UCAA pulled all Air Operator Certificates(AOCs), sanctioning flights beyond Uganda's borders, effectively shutting down flights by Ugandan registered airlines across the national borders, but allowed several of the affected airlines to continue domestic operations.This, according to ETN, exposed the flaws in the UCAA's decisions, as its mouthpiece tried to make the local media believe that safety concerns were the primary factor behind their action. "How can we be unsafe flying across the borders and yet we are considered safe enough to fly within Uganda? This simply does not add up," complained by a Kajjansi-based operator at the time. Read more ▪ CAA: Rwanda, Ethiopia airlines to fill Air Uganda gap New RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines operations at Entebbe will help fill the gap created by the absence of Air Uganda which is under suspension, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said.Government granted the two airlines fifth freedom rights to fly the Entebbe-Nairobi and Entebbe-Juba routes. Fifth freedom is the right to carry passengers from one's own country to a second country and from that country to a third country. RwandAir started new operations between Entebbe and Juba in South Sudan. Ethiopian Airlines is expected to start new operations between Entebbe-Nairobi routes soon, the CAA spokesperson, Ignie Igundura said. CAA revoked the air operators’ certificates for three carriers including Air Uganda, Uganda Air Cargo and Trans-Afrik (U) Ltd, citing their failure to meet standards for operations.Their suspension of business followed an audit of the policies and procedures of CAA by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Some carriers were forced to hike ticket prices after the suspension of Air Uganda which was the main airline plying the routes. Read more ▪ CAA: Air Uganda Counts Shs13bn Loss After Closure Air Uganda has officially announced an indefinite closure of its operations pending issuance of fresh operating instructions from the national regulators. It is also set to return all its aircraft obtained on lease to the owners for as long as it remains out of business, according to company executives.The Airline company blames its closure on incapacities discovered within the National Regulator, Civil Aviation Authority [CAA], which compelled the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] to withdraw the AOCs [(Air Operator Certificates) of] all the airlines registered in Uganda.In a statement released this morning announcing the closure, Air Uganda noted that the Audit was conducted by International regulator [ICAO] based in Montreal, between June 11 and 17, with the aim of assessing CAA’s capacities.“It is now apparent that the audit revealed shortcomings in the CAA’s oversight and regulatory capacities, consequently impacting its ability to award air Operators Certificates.” Read more ▪ Uganda missing out on aviation industry opportunities - report Government delay to implement the Yamoussoukro Decision is denying Uganda the opportunity to increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and ease unemployment, a report has shown.Yamoussoukro Decision is an agreement that encourages African nations to open their aviation markets to each other.According to the report published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 18, 600 jobs and an annual contribution of $77.6 million (about Shs205 billion) to GDP slip away from Uganda as a result of delaying the liberalisation of the of intra-African air market. The report points out that the said employment and economic growth accrue from an increase in the activities of airlines, airports, air navigation and other businesses that support the aviation sector. Read more ▪ Flight Disruptions as CAA Suspends Air Uganda Operations Air Uganda has spoken out on circumstances under which they have closed operations, saying Uganda Civil Aviation denied them a licence. CAA spokesperson Ignie Igundura says Air Uganda did not fully comply with required safety standards thus putting lives of passengers at risk. He said CAA has suspended Air Uganda’s licence until further notice. CEO Air Uganda, Cornwell Muleya, said in a statement this week that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded a review of Uganda Civil Aviation systems, structures and operations on June 17, 2014. “After this review, the airlines registered in Uganda received notification from the Civil Aviation Authority that all Air Operator Certificates (AOCs) for International Operations had been withdrawn and a new recertification process will be undertaken,” said Muleya. Read more   The volume of flights, passengers and cargo, according to data from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Entebbe International Airport are on a steady increase. Statistics show that there were 1.23 million international arrivals compared with 1.08 million passengers in 2011.This shows an increase of 15 percent in cargo volumes, with 55,908 tonnes handled last year compared with 48,636 tonnes registered in 2011. CAA spokesperson, Ignie Igunduura, attributes the increase in passenger and cargo traffic at Entebbe to improved economic performance, political stability, the discovery of oil and gas in the country.“Aviation will never be the same as more investors seek business opportunities in the country due to macro economic stability,” asserted Igundura. This comes in the wake of Uganda’s average annual inflation rate for the 2012 calendar year slowing down to 14 percent compared with 18.7 percent in 2011, according to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics. Read more ▪ CAA wants tax exemption on firefighting equipment The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has requested the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to exempt it from paying taxes on firefighting trucks and other non-commercial aviation equipment. Ignie Igunduura, the CAA manager public affairs, said the equipment has no commercial value.“The companies that manufacture the trucks do so on order. When we place an order for a truck at $1m (about sh2.5b), we end up paying an additional sh400m in taxes to URA, yet the trucks are not intended for profits,” Igunduura said.He added that the trucks are only deployed on emergency responses when fires break out in Entebbe and Kampala.“Should we start charging a fee for each emergency we intervene in? The trucks have no commercial value, so URA should not tax them,” he said.Igunduura made the remarks while guiding journalists on a tour of Entebbe airport over the weekend. Read more ▪ CAA: MPs approve one trillion loan for airport upgrade Due to increased traffic of bigger air crafts requiring modern facilities, MPs on the physical infrastructure committee have agreed to a request for external funding to upgrade Entebbe and selected airports to international standards. In their report after visiting several aerodromes like Soroti, Kasese, Arua and Gulu, the MPs recommended a major upgrade of runways, taxi-ways and aprons at about US$448m (about sh1trillion). “Africa has the potential for air traffic growth in terms of passengers and cargo. Leading airlines are also increasingly accessing Africa’s air transport market and several of them have acquired new big aircraft like airbus A380 which have necessitated upgrade of infrastructure, facilities and technologies by airports,” according to the committee report, informed by a concept paper by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Read more ▪ CAA;Foreign financiers troop to Uganda, eye new air transport master plan Players in Uganda’s aviation sector are upbeat about prospects for the financing of a planned revamp and expansion of the Entebbe International Airport, as demand for air services continues to outstrip capacity.Read more ▪ |