CAA Shortlists Six Airline Companies for Licensing

By Kampala Post Reporter

Six companies have been shortlisted for licensing to operate local and regional flight services, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has revealed.

Among the airline companies shortlisted is Sun Guru Limited which applied for new licenses to operate private and domestic non-scheduled passenger flight service and Misk Air Limited which applied for domestic non-scheduled passenger flights.

Four companies applied for license renewal and they include; Aero Link, Air Serv Uganda, Premier Services East Africa, and Jobihani Investments. Speaking during the Civil Aviation Board Air Services Licensing Committee public hearing session, where the six companies were defending their applications on Thursday in Kampala, CAA’s Managing Director, David Kakuba said they have set tough conditions for the applicants to ensure safety and high standards because worldwide, the industry is highly regulated.

“The sector manages risk at almost 100 percent. Therefore, if you want to come and fly in the air space of this country, you must go through very many procedures to be cleared,’’ he said.

According to Kakuba, a public hearing session is one of the conditions, where companies have to defend their proposals and the public is free to raise any objections against the companies that have applied for either new license or renewal of license with the aviation body.

He said companies interested to operate in Ugandan must have aircraft (s) which have a valid certificate of air of worthiness, qualified and competent personnel, regular maintenance records, the economic viability of the operation among other requirements.

The shortlisted companies will give competition to the recently revived government-owned Uganda Airlines in the provision of flight services. On April 23 two Bombardier CRJ900 jets touched down at Entebbe International Airport, marking the official revival of Uganda’s national carrier, which was grounded in 2001.