Uganda’s national carrier, Uganda Airlines has announced that it has got landing approvals in China. The move widens the national carrier’s launch of long-haul flights outside Africa.
In March 2021, Uganda Airlines obtained landing slots at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) in the United Kingdom and Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates.
Uganda Airlines is also working on obtaining rights for more cities including Mumbai, India. The carrier, which collapsed in 2001 and resumed in August 2019, has been operating flights within Africa.
Meanwhile, previously, a connecting flight to China required one to first fly to Dubai for about five hours, and spend some hours in transit, before connecting to another flight from Dubai to China, which takes about seven more hours. With the new milestone, one will need about nine hours to connect from Entebbe Airport to China.
A study conducted by Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) in 2017 indicated that the top five major destinations for Ugandans travelling through Entebbe International Airport were the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, China, United States of America, South Africa, and England.