According to eTurboNews, Air Uganda is the latest airline to join AFRAA, the African Airline Association, becoming a member in May.
The membership of U7 in Africa’s premier aviation body has opened the door for the Ugandan carrier to join such initiatives as the joint fuel purchase scheme, the lower training costs organised by AFRAA and IATA, joint ground handling, and co-ordinated lobbying.
According to AFRAA, its members saved over $30 million in fuel purchases last year.
Air Uganda had already submitted an application for full IATA membership.
The airline, which took to the skies in late 2008, is presently fully-owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. However, talks are progressing with the Ugandan government, following an agreement between His Highness the Aga Khan and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to have the Government of Uganda acquire a strategic share in the airline, then making it formally the flag carrier of the ‘Pearl of Africa’.