Government of Uganda is looking to bolster its exportation of fruits and vegetables to the European Union, once Uganda Airlines, the national career commences operations to the UK.
Uganda is currently earning about $50m annually from fruit and vegetable exports, but hopes to grow this to about $200m the next few years.
But the country faces a string of bottlenecks, key among them lack of cheap and reliable transportation of the perishables.
Odrek Rwabwogo, who heads the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) says Uganda’s fruit export is being affected by a lack of a direct flight to Europe.
This, he says, will soon be fixed once Uganda airlines starts operating its London route.
“Because it is a landlocked country, Uganda mainly exports fruits and vegetables to Europe by air, into Liège, Brussels and Amsterdam,” Rwabwogo told Fruitnet in an interview recently.
“There hasn’t been a direct airline route to the UK for the last six or seven years, but now Uganda Airlines is in the final stages of safety inspections to agree landing rights with Britain. We have aircraft that can transport some 20-30 tonnes on each flight, and we hope this will really strengthen that route.”
“Uganda so far has two or three direct flights per week to Istanbul, which is a big market for Ugandan coffee. It is also our source of technology for low-level manufacturing and the processing of fruits and vegetables, the roasting of coffee, the packing of tea, and so on. We are encouraging that route because it’s a little closer to the level of growth in our economy.” He added.
Uganda Airlines is reportedly preparing to launch the London Heathrow flights later this year.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) however, has offered the carrier the option to operate flights through intermediate airports in Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, or Turkey.
These airports already have existing security ratings from the UK CAA, while delays in commencing a security audit of Entebbe International Airport have been a major hindrance to commence this service.
“We had already set up at the airport, what is left is for us to set up a marketing office and reactivate the slots we had been previously allocated,” the CEO Jenifer Bamuturaki said earlier this year.