Latest news with #UgandaAirlines
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Indian Express
Customs nabs foreign national smuggling cocaine-filled pellets worth Rs 8.65 crore in stomach from Mumbai airport
The Mumbai Customs department Sunday arrested a foreign national at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for allegedly trying to smuggle cocaine worth Rs 8.65 crore into India. The passenger had concealed the drugs inside his body, said officers. According to the Customs, on the intervening night of May 24 and 25, based on spot profiling, one foreigner came under their radar. The passenger had arrived in Mumbai on the Uganda Airlines flight UR430. 'Upon questioning, the passenger exhibited signs of nervousness and uneasiness. Further examination and medical investigation revealed that the passenger had swallowed multiple, yellow-coloured pellets, which were later found to contain a coloured crumbled substance purported to be cocaine,' said a Customs official. After following due legal process, Customs officers Wednesday seized the contraband purported to be cocaine, having a net weight of 866 grams, the Customs department stated. The accused passenger was placed under arrest under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). Efforts are being made to apprehend his associates to whom he was supposed to deliver the contraband. Customs officials are also checking if he had similarly smuggled drugs in the past. As per government norms, 100 grams of cocaine is a commercial quantity, and the accused foreigner was carrying a considerable quantity for smuggling purposes, knowing that it was a banned drug. If convicted of smuggling a commercial quantity of drugs, the accused may be sentenced to imprisonment up to 20 years. Earlier, in April, Customs department officials arrested three men and two women at the Mumbai airport while they were trying to allegedly smuggle hydroponic weed worth around Rs 30 crore from Bangkok. All were residents of Mumbai and travelling on different flights, the Customs officials had said. The arrested suspects faced serious charges under the NDPS Act, as commercial quantities of drugs had been seized from them.
Travel Daily News
22-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
APG selected by Uganda Airlines as General Sales Agent in the UK
APG becomes Uganda Airlines' UK GSA ahead of Entebbe–London Gatwick launch, supporting sales, marketing, and trade engagement for the new route. APG announce its appointment as the General Sales Agent (GSA) for Uganda Airlines in the United Kingdom, ahead of the airline's upcoming launch of direct flights between Entebbe and London Gatwick. Uganda Airlines will commence this long-anticipated route on May 18, 2025, with four weekly non-stop flights, further expanding its international footprint and offering a direct link between Uganda and the UK for the first time in over two decades. Under this new agreement, APG will be responsible for providing full sales and marketing services as well as reservation support in the UK market. APG will also support Uganda Airlines with travel trade engagement and promotional initiatives designed to drive awareness and sales of the new route. The new service will be operated using Uganda Airlines' state-of-the-art Airbus A330-800neo, offering athree-class configuration: Business, Premium Economy, and Economy – catering to both leisure and corporate travelers. Richard Burgess, President of APG Network, commented: 'We are delighted to be representing Uganda Airlines in the UK at such a pivotal moment in their international expansion. The launch of direct Entebbe–London Gatwick flights is a significant development for travel and trade relations between the two countries, and APG looks forward to ensuring the success of this new route in the UK market.' This partnership further reinforces APG's ongoing mission to support airline growth worldwide through expert local representation and a full suite of services tailored to airline partners.
Zawya
19-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Uganda Airlines ups the ante against East African peers on London route
London Gatwick is likely to become a new flashpoint for competition among East Africa's airlines in the coming months, as carriers looking for growth in the UK market find it the only option for expanding services. Uganda Airlines is set for its inaugural flight to London and Europe on May 18, with London Gatwick as the destination for the service that will operate four times a week. UR 110, which was scheduled to take off at 9.25am local time, comes just weeks ahead of a new service to London by Kenya Airways that will also be landing at Gatwick starting July 2, 2025. Both carriers join Ethiopian Airlines, which besides its single daily flight to London Heathrow, has been operating additional flights to Gatwick since November 2023, an airport it returned to after a 17-year break. As of May, 2025, Ethiopian flies four times a week to Gatwick bringing its total capacity in the London area to 11 flights a week. Kenya Airways, which has a daily service to London Heathrow, will be operating three flights a week into London Gatwick, taking its weekly flights into the UK to 10. RwandAir has dedicated all its flights into the UK to London Heathrow, after operating from Gatwick in the initial years. Uganda Airlines entry into the UK market complicates the equation for Kenya Airways and Ethiopian, because they have been picking a significant portion of traffic from Uganda. There have been no direct flights between Uganda and the UK since British Airways halted its service to Entebbe in November 2015. The return of Uganda Airlines with a direct flight that slashes hours of transit agony from the journey is expected to eat into KQ's and Ethiopian's pie. Both carriers, operating the largest number of flights within Africa, depend on connecting traffic from within the continent to feed their intercontinental flights. Competitors, including RwandAir, KQ, Ethiopian and Gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar, are however, expected to continue to attract business for passengers who may prefer to enter the UK through Heathrow, or those connecting to the US and other European destinations. Until it completes partnerships with other airlines for onward carriage, Uganda Airlines will be an origin and destination operator whose services terminate in London. On the return journeys, however, it will offer tickets beyond Entebbe across its network of 14 African destinations. According to industry analysts, the growing number of flights by East African carriers into the UK, including landing at Gatwick, reflects two parallel trends - strong growth in demand on Africa-UK sector, and the exhaustion of slots at Heathrow for airlines that may want to want to expand their services into the UK. The scarcity of slots at Heathrow means that any intending entrant would pay through the nose to buy some from an incumbent. Even then, the timings of available slots may not fit well into a new entrants' network feed and de-feed mechanism. In terms of capacity, however, Ethiopian has an edge over the competition. The A350-900 it operates on the London route is configured to 343 seats. Meanwhile, Uganda Airlines has 258 seats on its A330-800neo while Kenya comes in with only 234 seats available on its B787-8 Dreamliner. © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Airbus' rarest plane is about to fly to more places — here's where you can catch it
Airbus' worst-selling A330-800neo is expanding to more routes. The jet is unpopular due to its higher seat cost and smaller capacity compared to the A330-900neo. Only three global are scheduled to fly the plane on a few dozen routes in 2025. Airbus has a strong aircraft portfolio, and its deliveries consistently outpace Boeing's. But one of its planes has proven to be a commercial flop: the Airbus A330-800neo. The jet flies further than its A330-900neo sister, but it has a higher per-seat fuel burn while carrying fewer people — tanking potential profits. Only three airlines operate the plane: Air Greenland, Kuwait Airways, and Uganda Airlines. This year, it will go to one new city. Beginning May 18, Uganda Airlines will launch four-times-weekly A330-800neo flights between Entebbe and London Gatwick Airport, bridging the two countries nonstop for the first time since 2015. It's the first time London has welcomed the jet since September 2023. People who hope to experience the ultra-rare plane can board in about three dozen cities worldwide this year. Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium shows only about 4,600 A330-800neo flights are scheduled for 2025, up about 450 from 2024. Here is every route the A330-800neo is scheduled to fly this year, per Cirium data. Kuwait, the plane's launch customer in 2020, is the largest operator. Nuuk is a new A330-800neo city as of November 2024. Air Greenland — the plane's smaller operator — inaugurated widebody flights from the country's capital after the airport built a bigger runway. The airline's A330-800neo route to Reyjavik is also new in 2025 but will only fly two roundtrips, one in June and one in August. The route will otherwise use Boeing 737-800s and De Havilland Dash 8 turboprops. Kuala Lumpur is a returning route for Kuwait, which last flew to the city in October 2023. Kuwait won't fly its A330-800neo to Bangkok in 2025 like it did last year, swapping the route for the larger Boeing 777-300ER. A handful of Kuwait's routes will only fly a few roundtrips in April, including to Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan and to Tbilisi, Georgia. Munich will run twice in June. Kuwait's service to Ahmedabad, India, and Mashhad, Iran, were omitted from the map because they were single roundtrips that already operated in February and March. One major market absent from the global A330-800neo network is the US. Kuwait last flew the aircraft nonstop to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in October 2023 but has since swapped the jet for the Boeing 777-300ER. The A330-800neo was built as a longer-range version of the A330-900neo, flying about 1,000 miles further than its sister aircraft. The range was supposed to be the main selling point, but it hasn't been enough to offset its less favorable size and costs. The A330-800neo can carry up to 406 people, compared to up to 465 passengers on the A330-900neo. Both are powered by next-generation Rolls Royce Trent 7000 engines that burn 25% less fuel than older A330s. The A330-800neo's shrunken size and complementary efficiency may seem like a sweet spot on lower-demand, far-away routes, but the per-seat cost is greater because the plane holds fewer people while still carrying the same structural components and engines as the A330-900neo. The A330-900neo's capacity allows for more revenue potential, especially since the larger cabin can accommodate more high-dollar business or first-class seats. Plus, the A330-900neo's 8,300-mile range is already suitable for airlines' needs. The A330-800neo's unfavorable economics have made it Airbus' worst-selling plane. Air Greenland has one, Kuwait Airways has four, and Uganda Airlines has two. One unnamed private operator bought a single unit in 2023. However, Garuda Indonesia canceled its purchase agreement for four A330-800neos in October, bringing the plane's net orders to just eight over 11 years. The A330-900neo has garnered nearly 400 orders during the same time and Cirium data shows it will fly about 82,000 scheduled flights in 2025. No one has ordered the A330-800neo in nearly two years, though the plane's cheaper $260 million price tag could help recoup the higher operating costs. The sister plane is nearly $300 million. Still, it's unclear whether Airbus will eventually abandon the project or keep it as an option, considering it invested in the plane and possibly doesn't want those efforts wasted. Read the original article on Business Insider
Zawya
21-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Uganda Airlines launches direct flights to London
Uganda Airlines will launch direct flights from Entebbe to London Gatwick on May 18, cutting travel time to nine hours and re-establishing a long-lost route. This will be the airline's first European route as it expands beyond Africa, marking a major milestone since British Airways abandoned the route in July 2015, claiming it was not 'commercially viable'. The Ugandan national carrier hopes the flights will boost trade, with faster access to the UK benefitting Ugandan exporters of coffee, tea and fresh produce, while attracting more tourists.'This accessibility is expected to increase tourist arrivals, generate employment opportunities, and contribute to our gross domestic product,' the Transport Minister Katumba Wamala said. Mr Wamala added that they expect lower air fares on the route. 'Where there's no competition, prices soar. Uganda Airlines will moderate the market,' he said. The airline, which was revived five years ago, has focused on African routes but is now expanding globally. London will be its third long-haul destination after Dubai and Mumbai, with plans to add Beijing soon. With 77 weekly departures from Entebbe, Uganda Airlines is the airport's biggest operator. Flights to London will bring the total to 81. Its fleet consists of three Airbus aircraft – A320-200, A330-800 and A320-800 and four CRJ-900s. The airline's CEO, Jennifer Bamuturaki, says the expansion strengthens Uganda's global aviation presence and national development goals.'Because of the potential they unlock, these air bridges are essential planks in the National Development Plan and Uganda's Vision 2040 strategy. Besides shortening travel times for our passengers, this route also provides a more efficient route for exporters of fresh products to the United Kingdom.' © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
