"All Airlines use contracted Agents across the globe to conduct cargo sales and represent airline interests where the Airline does not have physical presence," says Rahim Shakila Lamar, Head of Corporate affairs and Public Relations
Uganda Airlines has dismissed as untrue information circulating on social media that some "powerful individuals" have booked out all cargo space on the Entebbe-London flight. The inaugural flight was yesterday (Sunday), and reports say, at least 22 tons of cargo was carried on the flight UR110/UGD110 to Gatwick International Airport, and it is expected that cargo is going to be a major business on this route.
One post quoting "an Asian" exporter of "habanero Chilli pepper to the UK every week," every week, as saying that well-connected people had booked all the cargo crates on the flights to London.
"Exporters like him now have to hire the space from brokers at a higher price. He'll therefore continue to use Ethiopian Airlines, which doesn't tolerate such corruption," the post says.
Another one reads, "Yesterday UR110 carried 22.3 tonnes of cargo from Uganda to the U.K. That is 22,300 kilograms. There are 5 suppliers in Uganda that have completely blocked out the cargo hold till end of July. Cargo makes more money than passengers."
While the company admits that it uses agents in cargo sales as is the global aviation practice, it does not use Blocked Space Agreements (BSAs), though it is also a common industry practice. BSAs are contractual arrangements between airlines and cargo agencies or customers, enabling the latter to reserve a predetermined volume of cargo space on specific flights.
"All Airlines use contracted Agents across the globe to conduct cargo sales and represent airline interests where the Airline does not have physical presence," says Rahim Shakila Lamar, Head of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations. However, with Uganda Airlines, space allocation on every flight is on a first-come, first-served basis so as to allow everyone equal opportunity, says Lamar.
"Uganda Airlines does not have any Block space agreement with any exporter as is being alleged, she says, explaining, "'block space' is used to guarantee minimum load per flight, but we don't use that as our space is limited to about 20 tons only per flight". The first Entebbe-Gatwick flight had 22.4 tons of cargo from five different exporters.
"We rejected Block space agreements as we are here to serve the entire market," she says.
Another Uganda Airlines official, who doesn't speak for the carrier or the London office and therefore requested anonymity, said the exporters were the first to book out and paid for the space in advance. "It was very much needed revenue," the official said, adding, "Just like 3000 passengers have booked and paid for their tickets in advance - some booked as far out as January next year - I’m sure even these will be branded corrupt."
The company says there are experiencing high demand for cargo space and that this is being enhanced by the promotional prices on offer for both cargo and passengers, which people have decided to grab. "You take what is on hand; there is limited cargo space on a passenger flight - there are bags to load as well," said the official. "So if booking out space where revenue is collected is corruption, then he is entitled to his view.
"The demand is there - hence the interest in getting a cargo plane which doesn’t have to depend on the passenger scheduled one." Uganda Airlines is planning to add to its fleet eight aircraft starting next financial year, including two cargo planes.
