Uganda’s magnificent Airbus A330 neo finally touched ground at Entebbe International Airport at a colourful ceremony on Tuesday.
The government of Uganda had days earlier sent officials including the infrastructure minister to France to officially cross check with the aircraft before it would fly to its rightful owner.
“The big and beautiful Crane has a capacity of 20 in business, 24 in premium economy and 210 in economy class,” the Ugandan government said.
The President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was at the airport tarmac to receive the airbus.
On November 17, this Airbus A330 neo rolled off the assembly line and flew into the skies for a series of test flights until it passed all the tests.
According to details, this aircraft will be one of the first A330-800neo aircraft to enter service, Airbus’ latest A330 variant to date. Uganda has made orders for two airbuses.
Uganda’s nation carrier which launched operations in August of 2019 has been relying only on a fleet of just four Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft flying to nearby destinations including flights to Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya.
The first route to launch will be Entebbe (EBB) to London Heathrow (LHR), which will begin in early 2021. Mumbai will be added as the second neo arrives in Uganda.
Airbus has only 10 orders of the A330-800neo variant- two orders from Uganda and Kuwait Airways holds orders for the remaining eight aircraft, and hopes to enter them into service in the near future.
This A330-800neo variant joins a fleet of Airbus A320, A320neo, A330-200 and Boeing 777-300ER.
Uganda’s Airbus Rolls Off Assembly Line, Begins Test Flights