KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda Airlines is facing mounting public anger after a wave of flight cancellations and delays stranded passengers, highlighting the national carrier’s acute operational vulnerability stemming from its limited aircraft fleet.
Unforeseen technical faults affecting a small number of wide-body aircraft have triggered a cascade of disruptions, officials said. These issues have grounded planes in key locations, including Lagos and London, leading to widespread service interruptions on routes such as Dubai and Zanzibar.
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The impact of the fleet constraint was severe on Sunday when an overbooked flight to Dubai required a downgrade from the larger Airbus A330-800neo to a smaller plane. The shift left several travelers, including businesspeople carrying perishable goods, unable to board.
Airline staff addressed the capacity shortfall using a first-come, first-served policy, rebooking passengers with urgent needs onto rival carriers and placing others in hotels.
Similar service disruptions hit Zanzibar earlier in the week, with cancellations and delays pushing scheduled return flights into the early morning hours. Frustrated passengers vented their anger on social media, where videos circulated showing abandoned luggage piled at congested check-in counters.
Shakila Rahim Lamar, the airline’s spokesperson, conceded the problems were “regrettable.” She insisted, however, that safety protocols necessitated grounding the planes for immediate repairs, stressing the difficulty of maintaining a reliable schedule with a small fleet that relies heavily on leased aircraft during outages.
The operational crisis drew sharp criticism from observers. Prominent media commentator Andrew Mwenda publicly warned that the airline is “rapidly falling apart” due to its inability to absorb minor technical failures.
