Uganda Airlines (UR, Entebbe) says it has brought to the attention of Interpol the problems identified by Uganda’s Auditor General, who said the state-owned airline had hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank accounts. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Autorite de l’Aviation Civile de la RDC – AAC) revealed that it had suffered losses due to fraudulent remittances.
In its annual report to the Parliament of Uganda for the financial year ending 31 December 2023, the AG highlighted the following concerns: “UNACL [Uganda National Airlines Company Limited] paid a total of $262,345.64 to a bank account fraudulently created in the name of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This caused the company to suffer financial losses. ”
Asked for comment, Uganda Airlines spokesperson Shakira Rahim Ramah referred to comments made by ch-aviation to UGNEWS24, stating that the airline received the request for payment to AAC via email and that the airline immediately He explained that it had been processed. However, I then received another email with details of another account for payment, which was rejected as the first request had already been fulfilled. She said the matter involved national parties and had been referred to Interpol for investigation.
ch-aviation has requested confirmation of the information from Interpol.
Meanwhile, the AG reported that Uganda Airlines continued to underperform in 2023, with revenue of Sh230.4 billion (US$60.5 million) against a budget of Sh491.8 billion (US$129 million). Still, this was an improvement of UGX 89.4 billion (USD 23.5 million) compared to the previous year’s revenue figure.
As in the previous financial year, the Auditor General warned that the airline’s operating margins revealed “unsatisfactory performance in terms of profitability and sustainability”. [the] However, he found that the state funding of UGX 85.6 billion (US$ 22.5 million) budgeted for 2023 was justified.
However, he flagged what he called unfavorable contract terms between Uganda Airways and Rolls-Royce, which called for monthly upfront payments for actual and non-flying time. At the time of the audit, Roll-Royce was asking for $7.2 million.
The AG also revealed that Uganda Airlines was unable to launch new routes to Mumbai International Airport, Lagos, Jeddah International, Guangzhou and London Heathrow Airport as planned due to regulatory constraints. “This has had an impact on achieving targets such as passenger numbers, passenger revenue, total number of routes, average load factor, average route fare per passenger, and total operating hours by aircraft type,” he said. Ta.
CEO Jennifer Bamturaki recently revealed that the company has received foreign operating permits in Jeddah, Lusaka and Harare International, and is awaiting approval in Guangzhou. Uganda Airlines already flies to 12 African destinations and two intercontinental routes to Dubai International Airport and Mumbai.
