KAMPALA – The State Minister for Privatisation and Investment, Evelyn Anite, has handed an Uganda Investment Authority-issued investment license to Bar Aviation, a strategic Ugandan-owned airline.
Bar Aviation, which operates from Kajjansi Airfield, mid-way between Kampala City and Entebbe International Airport, has invested 38.5 million dollars (UGX140 billion).
It operates over 20 aircraft (planes and helicopters) for tourist and passenger travel, runs training of aviators, and offers air ambulance service in Uganda and the region.
Bar Aviation employs 150 people, 99 percent of whom are Ugandans. The aviation school has trained over 300 aviators like pilots and aeronautic engineers who work for aviation operators like Uganda Airlines, Emirates, and Kenya Airways, amongst others.
While handing over UIA’s investment license, Minister Anite said she was proud that Bar Aviation, a Ugandan airline, had not only invested in the country but is offering efficient air services and employing Ugandans.
Minister Anite said with the investment license, Bar Aviation qualifies for incentives that should help boost its growth. She said UIA would guide the airline on the kind of investment incentives they can access in order to encourage them to invest even more in Uganda’s aviation sector.
The minister said: “Transportation is key in ease of doing business and today I am very excited to hand over the investment license to Bar Aviation. Thank you for creating 150 jobs for Ugandans. We promise to fix the challenges of infrastructure that you are facing like access roads to the highways”.
Minister Anite said the government would also expand the Kajjansi Airfield runway with the aim of making it help in decongesting Entebbe International Airport.
Bar Aviation’s Marketing Manager and Public Relations Officer, Dorothy Kagaba Byenkya, said they are currently training 52 Ugandan pilots.
Bar Aviation’s Marketing Manager and Public Relations Officer, Dorothy Kagaba Byenkya, said they are currently training 52 Ugandan pilots.
She however told the minister that despite all these strides, the industry needs robust government support to boost its potential.
Among these, she said, the Kajjansi Bweya road is very bumpy constraining ease of travel to and from Kajjansi Airfield.
She also noted the short length and ‘dirt’ composition of the Kajjansi, which runway makes it difficult for bigger aircraft to use the facility as an alternative route to Entebbe Airport in case of emergency but also to de-congest Entebbe as the only international airport in Uganda.
“Government can look into developing Kajjansi Aerodrome into an entry and exit point and expanding the facility to act as an alternative aerodrome to Entebbe,” she said.
“We believe that addressing these challenges will increase the ease of access to air transportation but also paint a positive image on the country from investors/tourists and allow for surrounding local investment to grow.”
