Tanzania's Deputy Minister of Works, Transport, and Communications Eng. Atashasta Nditiye has proposed a move towards greater cooperation between Tanzania and Uganda's aviation industries. This would especially involve the newly established Air Tanzania and Uganda Airlines.
According to a report by Uganda's "The Observer," Eng. Nditiye suggested that the two national carriers could serve to complement each other's operations and cut out the unhealthy competition that exists in the regional market. By his proposal, Uganda Airlines would be serving regional routes, and feed traffic into Air Tanzania's long-haul operations. Currently, Uganda Airlines serves 7 regional routes across East Africa from its hub at Entebbe International Airport, while Air Tanzania serves 3 African countries not in Uganda Airlines' network, 1 intercontinental route, with plans to extend its reach to China, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
This proposal would however be incompatible with Uganda Airlines' own long-haul aspirations, given that it firmed up an order for two A330-800 airliners earlier this year.
Eng. Nditiye further proposed enhanced cooperation between the two states on the matter of revamping the East African Civil Aviation Academy which since the first collapse of the East African Community in 1977, has been under Ugandan management. However, this did not sit well with Uganda's State Minister for Transport Mr. Aggrey Bagiire, who insisted that the Ugandan government was in the process of addressing the issues that have plagued the school in the past.
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