Uganda's solo airline operator Victoria International Airlines (VIA) has suspended all its flights indefinitely, barely two months after its maiden flight to Nairobi, Kenya.
It is not yet clear why the country's flag carrier suspended the flights but a company statement quoted by Daily Monitor on Wednesday stated that its selling efforts were hampered by the poor performance of its distribution system.
The VIA conducts online booking via the internet, through which it can keep costs down and allow the airline to offer lower fares than its competitors in the region.
"As a selling tool, we have found it to be slow and travel agents are still unable to issue tickets. As a result, our projected passenger uplifts have fallen short of our expectations, " said the statement.
The company further explained that it no longer made business sense to continue flying when customers found it difficult to book a seat on the airline. "There is no doubt that they will choose an easier alternative," it said.
Over the course of the next two weeks, the statement said, the airline will evaluate the various distribution options available, whether to select another on-line booking engine or the more costly option of being distributed through one of the Global Distribution Systems (GDS).
"We also must ensure the long term viability of the airline so we have taken the decision to suspend flights until we have identified a better solution."
VIA is a joint venture between the government of Uganda, which has a 20 percent stake, and South African and Swiss investors.
The airline had a rocky start after its scheduled maiden flight to Nairobi was denied landing rights by the Kenyan aviation authorities. It was cleared a week after.
The highly touted carrier was supposed to start with regional flights and eventually go continental to destinations like South Africa but this has not taken off as planned.
Uganda has not had a national airline since the liquidation of Uganda Airlines in early 2001 followed by a couple of failed attempts by other airlines to fill the void.
(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2007)