Uganda eyes Canada, European agency loans to fund airline plan

Uganda will borrow from Canadian and European credit agencies to fund jet acquisitions from Bombardier and Airbus to revive its national airline that’s been defunct for more than two decades. The East African country will liaise with manufacturers to access credit at concessional rates, Works and Transport Ministry Permanent Secretary Bageya Waiswa said Tuesday. Bombardier said last week Uganda plans to acquire four new CRJ900 jets, while Airbus said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the state for two A330neo-800 aircraft. Uganda’s working figure for each Bombardier jet including training its crew is $27.7m, while that for each Airbus is $108m, he said. Uganda National Airlines will operate as Uganda Airlines and will operate its own ground cargo handling unit, the minister said.<br/>