Airbus and Boeing pitch Uganda sales campaign

The campaign to supply Uganda Airlines with mid-range aircraft and freighter needs has increased, with the rival airframers upping their engagements with Ugandan officials — Airbus and Boeing pitch Uganda sales campaign. Without issuing a formal request for proposals, Uganda Airlines indicated a near-term need for two medium-range passenger aircraft and two freighters in the past year. That notwithstanding, Airbus, the incumbent at Uganda Airlines with two A330-800s in service, Boeing, and Embraer, are understood to have submitted proposals to the Ministry of Transport, one of the two principal shareholders in the carrier. In internal documents, Uganda Airlines has defined its fleet requirements as a passenger aircraft in the 100+ seat range, which would also have the capability to substitute the A330-800 on services to Dubai and London. However, the midrange’s core mission would be to operate intra-African services, including news services to West and Southern Africa. On the cargo side, the carrier needs a medium-weight freighter to serve the African feeder network and a heavier lifter in the 60-70 ton payload range. Jetting into Kampala A delegation from Boeing will be jetting into Kampala over the weekend for meetings scheduled for this coming week. It will be the third such visit to Uganda by the Arlington-headquartered airframers agents in eight months. Boeing’s European rival Airbus has held four engagements with Ugandan officials over the past six months, angling for additional aircraft orders. The latest pitch by Boeing follows an April 7 letter from Uganda’s leader, President Yoweri Museveni, to the US Ambassador to Kampala, Ms. Natalie Brown, in which he directs his minister for works and transport as well as the chief executive officer of Uganda Airlines, “to study the suitability” of Boeing aircraft for the national carrier. Apparently, President Museveni’s letter was in reply to a March 27 letter in which Ambassador Brown conveyed a proposal by Boeing to outfit Uganda Airlines. Sources familiar with the contents say Ms. Brown expressed frustration at Ugandan officials' seeming indifference and near-hostile attitude to the American airframer's advances. Boeing first contacted Uganda last August when they added Kampala to a mission to Tanzania. “The first engagement wasn't high level but came as an add-on to another they were having in Tanzania. That was followed by a meeting with Uganda’s minister for foreign affairs in DC during October,” a source familiar with the goings on told AirInsight. Pitching the MAX Boeing executives met face-to-face with President Museveni on the sidelines of the US-Africa Summit in Washington last December. They pitched the 737 MAX for a possible role in Uganda Airlines' fleet. They followed on with a series of meetings with Ugandan officials in Kampala during February. Those meetings' tone set the stage for Ambassador Brown’s direct appeal to Museveni. An order is crucial for Boeing, which in recent years, has seen Airbus encroach on what was previously its exclusive territory. Uganda Airlines' predecessor launched in 1976 with a fleet of Boeing 707-320Cs and Fokker F27-600s. During the 1990s, the carrier operated wet-leased 737s initially from Ansett Worldwide and later Air Zimbabwe. “Boeing is gunning for an order for both the passenger and cargo requirement. But even if they manage to get a commitment for just one aircraft, what is important for them at this point is to have an active transaction with Uganda,” a source told AirInsight.

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