THE TRUTH! Why Uganda Airlines crisis is a serious emergency!

By John Katanywa
Disruptions after disruptions have engulfed Uganda Airlines in the past weeks!
Uganda Airlines Chief Executive Officer, Jenifer Bamuturaki, recently came out to confirm that the national carrier is experiencing a severe operational crisis, attributing mass cancellations and extensive delays to the grounding of two aircraft, including one of its two Airbus A330 Neos currently stuck in Lagos, Nigeria.
“We have had quite a bit of disruption with cancellations and delays and these have been caused by the fact that we are two aircraft less. We have seven aircrafts including a wet lease but we have one Airbus and one CRJ that are on ground with technical faults,” she said.
This shortage of two aircraft, she said, has had a “knock-on effect” across the entire network.
The technical faults have translated into public relations turmoil for the airline.
Early this month, videos widely shared on social media showed stranded passengers at Entebbe Airport check-in counters, with some resorting to dumping their luggage in frustration due to lack of service and communication.
We must understand that the aviation industry is very sensitive and needs to be handled with care, otherwise everything will evaporate.
Uganda Airlines is still a baby that needs to be nurtured. In the past few years, it was on the right trajectory, but the events of the past few weeks shade a grim picture of what lies ahead if nothing tangible is done very quickly
We must understand that the events of the past few years have presented all sorts of new challenges to the aviation industry, but they’ve also worsened a problem that long predates the pandemic.
Before the world had even heard of COVID-19, aviation was facing a looming labour shortage, particularly among mechanics, technicians and pilots.
After some 1.3 million airline industry jobs were lost in 2020, what was once seen as a future problem is now here.
This is more than just an issue of raw numbers, however. Many of those job cuts were senior employees who were offered early-out packages. When they left their positions, they took plenty of valuable experience with them. Even if the industry were able to magically produce new talent, it would take years to make up for that loss of institutional knowledge.
Union leaders and industry executives can tell you about the difficulties of recruiting and retaining talent. Increased competition for workers from other industries, relatively low pay and poor benefits and the around-the-clock nature of the job were cited as primary challenges.
It’s heartening to see that there are initiatives underway to more aggressively and effectively recruit a younger and more diverse workforce. And yet, prior to the pandemic there were signs that the mechanic and technician talent pool was beginning to slowly expand. But this is a problem years in the making and a viable, sustainable solution will likewise take time.
Two years of lockdowns, travel restrictions and shifts in consumer behaviour have snarled supply routes and slowed delivery times. The resulting supply chain problems have affected nearly all sectors of business, including aviation, and the market outlook for the aviation industry has changed.
A scarcity of vital aviation parts and global logistical challenges have caused lead times for some components to explode, in some cases to more than a year, and have forced airlines, suppliers to rethink their supply chain strategies.
However, Uganda Airlines seems not to be streamlining its supply chain management, with top management squabbling over cash.
Engine manufacturers are particularly feeling the crunch after several smaller suppliers of engine components went bankrupt during the downturn and others shifted to producing components for other sectors. There are also shortages of wire components, electronics and raw materials like aluminium and the aforementioned titanium. Used parts are also harder to come by, presenting problems for the aftermarket.
However, Uganda Airlines seems not to be streamlining its supply chain management, with top management squabbling over cash instead of addressing logistic challenges.
There are legitimate concerns that the industry’s sooner-than-expected recovery will be halted or even reversed by its supply chain challenges.
Will supply chain crisis stop aviation industry recovery in its tracks?
The answer is yes or no! If Uganda Airline doesn’t streamline its supply chain and manage logistical challenges, a disaster is in the offing!
Management must streamline the procurement process to allow competitive bidding than alleged insider bidding and trading that disrupts the timely purchase of key spare parts.
The writer is a concerned citizen.

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