Low cost carrier Jambojet has launched international flights,
touching down at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport on Thursday.
The carrier, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways,
will operate two daily return flights to the neighbouring country.
One-way tickets are priced at Sh11,330, a price tag the carrier says is introductory and subject to revision in the future.
Flights
will depart the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 09:10am
and 5:30pm every day while those flying out of Entebbe International
Airport will leave at 11:00am and 7:20pm daily.
Uganda's Minister for Transport, Aggrey Baiire, welcomed
Jambojet's entry into the market, noting that the move would help grow
the economy and foster international ties.
"Air transport and connectivity supports exports and
simultaneously increases competition and choice in the home market for
foreign based producers," he said.
Dr David Kakuba, the
managing director of Uganda's Civil Aviation Authority, echoed these
sentiments, adding that Jambojet's entry will boost air travel.
Cost of travel
Dr
Kakuba noted that Jambojet's low-cost model approach would bring down
the cost of travel between Kenya and Uganda, which is currently quite
high, spurring business and leisure travel.
"Jambojet
has identified a niche market and I wish to inform them that we shall
support their business in Uganda, including requests for increased
frequencies," he said.
"Jambojet joins the likes of
Flydubai who also operate locally on a low-cost model. I believe
Jambojet's entry in Uganda will help grow our air traffic numbers and
will go a long way in supporting our efforts to grow the economy."
Jambojet
was in May 2016 granted regulatory approval to fly to 16 routes
including Entebbe, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro,
Mwanza, Kigali, Juba, Bujumbura, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Goma, Kisangani
and Moroni.
Kenya late last year wrote to the
governments of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and
Democratic Republic of Congo to allow Jambojet fly to these routes.
First destinations
Jambojet,
which launched locally in April 2014, had earmarked Tanzania and Uganda
as its first destinations after granting of approvals.
The
low-cost carrier, which flies between 45,000 and 50,000 passengers per
month in Kenya, reported a pre-tax loss of Sh25 million for the year to
March, reversing a pre-tax profit of Sh126 million recorded the previous
year.
"In East Africa alone, we have a market of over
100 million people and we have barely scratched the surface in air
travel," Willem Hondius, Jambojet's CEO, said in Uganda on Thursday.
"We
believe that Jambojet's entry into Uganda will make air travel more
affordable to a majority of people who travel for business or leisure in
the region and beyond. It will also foster regional Integration and
economic growth."
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