page_title: Uganda Airlines (1976–2001)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Uganda Airlines (1976–2001) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Uganda Airlines Boeing 707-351C at Euroairport (LFSB)
context_page_description: Uganda Airlines was the flag carrier of Uganda. The airline was established in May 1976, and started operations in 1977. It was headquartered in Entebbe, Wakiso District, Uganda, and operated from its hub in Entebbe International Airport.
  Attempts were made by the Government of Uganda to privatise the company, but all potential bidders pulled out, eventually leading to the liquidation of Uganda Airlines Corporation in May 2001. The airline was later revived and began flying again in 2019 under the same name, Uganda Airlines.
context_section_description: Uganda Airlines was founded as a subsidiary of the government-owned Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) in May 1976 as a replacement of the services previously operated by East African Airways. It commenced operations in 1977, when Uganda Aviation Services (UAS), set up by British United Airways in 1965 but then a UDC subsidiary, was absorbed by Uganda Airlines, taking over the UAS route network. Following delivery of the first Boeing 707-320C in the late 1970s, new routes to Brussels, London and Rome were inaugurated. A second Boeing 707-320C entered the fleet in 1981. That year, new routes to Cairo, Cologne and Dubai were launched, followed by Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Nairobi in subsequent years.
  By March 1990 the fleet included one Boeing 707-320C, two Fokker F27-600s, one Lockheed L-100-30, one Twin Otter and one B-N Trislander. A Boeing 737 was leased from Air Zimbabwe in 1994 to serve Bujumbura and Kigali, as well as destinations in South Africa. Tel Aviv was added to the route network in 1995, and by 1998 all European routes were discontinued.
  Upon the creation of Alliance Air in late 1994—later known as SA Alliance—an entity jointly owned by the Tanzanian and Ugandan governments, Air Tanzania and Uganda Airlines, as well as by South African Airways (SAA), Tanzania and Uganda granted the rights of long-haul operations to the new airline. The agreement intended to feed Alliance Air's operations with both Air Tanzania and Uganda Airlines domestic and regional services. However, both regional carriers grew less than expected, and the deficit Uganda Airlines accumulated led the Ugandan Government to make a decision on whether to liquidate the airline or privatise it.
caption: A Uganda Airlines Boeing 707-320C at Euroairport in 1980.
exif: {}