Uganda Airlines is once again in the spotlight after its Airbus A330-800neo has been grounded for an entire week at London’s Gatwick Airport, leaving passengers stranded and others forced to pay extra to fly with rival carriers.
The incident, which left travellers frustrated after repeated rescheduling, drew speculation that the aircraft had been impounded over unpaid taxes.
Airline officials remained evasive, only describing the matter as “technical” and insisting aviation issues are sensitive.
However, Uganda Airlines CEO Jennifer Bamuturaki later admitted to passengers in confidence and confirmed to this website that the plane had developed a flat tyre.
“Flat tyres! Two moreover, the aircraft is unique, and the suppliers could not support immediately. We received six quotes for the same serial number. So we made a decision to deliver the tyres from Uganda, and they arrived last night on KQ. Aircraft was repaired and back in service. It’s not true that it was failure to pay taxes. That’s malicious and uncalled for,” Bamuturaki said.
Despite her assurance, the episode has deepened concerns over the operational fragility of the national carrier. Analysts question how a flat tyre could ground a flagship aircraft for seven days, forcing passengers to abandon their tickets, while rival airlines like RwandAir picked up the stranded traffic.
National Carrier Under Fire
The Gatwick fiasco comes on the heels of a damning Auditor General’s report that exposed massive financial leakages at Uganda Airlines. T
he audit revealed that over Shs 165 billion has been mismanaged in the past three years alone.
Highlights from the audit include:
Fuel mismanagement: Shs 41 billion lost in undocumented payments, overbilling, and questionable penalties with supplier MixJet.
Ticketing fraud: Shs 3.5 billion refunded for tickets already used by passengers.
Vanished sales: Shs 103 billion in ticket revenue recorded in the Passenger Name Record system but missing from bank accounts.
Revenue misreporting: Shs 5.3 billion in service fees wrongly classified as taxes and collected without Board approval.
The picture painted is of a state-owned airline bleeding money through weak controls, collusion with agents, and poor oversight.
Mounting Public Distrust
For an airline that survives on taxpayer bailouts, every fresh scandal chips away at its already fragile reputation. The Gatwick grounding underscores how operational hiccups, whether technical or financial quickly escalate into international embarrassment.
While Uganda Airlines insists the London incident was a “flat tyre,” the very fact that such a minor technical issue could cripple operations for a week raises fundamental questions about preparedness, maintenance planning, and crisis management.
For travellers, the message is already clear: Uganda Airlines may fly the national flag, but until it fixes its finances and its fleet, it risks becoming better known for grounded planes and missing billions than for service in the skies.