Enter New Players: Who wins?

AVIATION DIGEST | JARED KALERA |  The airline business has always been a delicate and competitive affair worldwide. This is exemplified by the stiff competition that has of recent emerged for the Entebbe route, in the East African nation of Uganda.

With the entry of seven new operators at Entebbe International Airport, including Kenyan based Premier Airlines and Southern Sudan based Kush Air that launched in  December 2024, and together with Saudi Arabian Flynas who had its inaugural flight on 16th January 2025, the market is set for a scramble.

This is even before we can mention the more and already established giants like Emirates, Ethiopian and Qatar.

This leaves the awkward question of how all the players will wade their way through this competition in a small market.

Newly revamped National carrier Uganda Airlines operating at its hub at Entebbe, would ordinarily take advantage ahead of the others . But the traffic of a mere 2,243,104 passengers in 2024 makes it look a tall order.

Uganda Airlines CEO Jenifer Bamuturaki in a recent interview with National Television( UBC), outlined her strategy for the airline in 2025 to include strategic partnerships in order  to align  its operations with IATA while finalizing plans for the Entebbe London route. She mentions argumentation of the fleet to increase the number of crafts and improve operational efficiency.

While these long term strategies work, in the short term results must be seen.

For instance, the Juba Entebbe and Kinshasa Entebbe routes have been good grounds for Uganda Airlines to feed their hub at Entebbe but with two home Airlines from Juba coming in, the joy ride may be over.

The same rundown seems to be forming for the DRC market. On December 17 2024, the official Ethiopian Airlines website announced a partnership between the airline and the DRC government to form Air Congo. Under the agreement, the DRC government will have a 51% stake while Ethiopian Airlines will have 49% and full management of the new airline.

With the remarkable amount of dependence on air travel in the entire Congo, Ethiopian will have struck a jackpot of sorts pushing away any real or imagined competition with the protectionism it will enjoy for the DRC market.

This means reduced passenger numbers for Uganda Airlines and other regional airlines that used these routes to feed into their domestic hubs( hub-spoke system ) like Entebbe, Nairobi and Kigali .

The other scenario is the entry of Low Cost Airlines( LCCs) into the market. These normally will attract tourists and low income travelers who won’t mind missing the comfort offered by Full Service carriers . The expanding middle income class ready to use these services minus  inflight entertainment and food plus  the higher and better utilization of fleet available, helps LCCs like Flynas,vPremier Airlines and Fly Dubai to give affordable tickets which is the biggest competitive factor internationally.

Granted, the airline industry thrives on alliances, but, your need for the right alliance to pilot you to the next stage, matters. Airline alliances are partnerships between two or more airlines intended to expand routes, share resources and engineer seamless travel experiences for international passengers for multiple destinations and well timed connections.

These alliances help gunner increased market share, lower operational costs and good customer satisfaction. The various alliances like Star, SkyTeam, Sky Elite and One World to mention but a few, link a weaker airline to an already established wide market and helps build confidence in the airline by association. All airlines tag at least onto one of these alliances.

Other profit nibbling factors aside like fuel, maintenance, ground handling, crew  and airport taxes, the big players, with better economies of scale, will squeeze the new and smaller airlines who have to dig deep for new routes, newer fuel efficient planes while offering cheaper tickets in order to swim just above the threshold. Needless to say, few airlines make profits on the African market and only the best marketing strategists will win through the muddy waters.

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Kalera jared is a Legal Researcher,Co Director Amputee Self Help Network Uganda,Senior Motor sport Safety Officer