By JONATHAN KAMOGA

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Uganda’s national carrier Uganda Airlines will resume its flights to Dubai this week after the United Arab Emirates lifted a ban on direct passenger services into the country.

The airline announced Friday that it will resume its flights on January 8, and it will now fly the route four times a week – on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

“We’ve resumed our flights to Dubai and taking all measures necessary to make sure you are protected when you travel with us. Effective from 08 January 2022 flights from Entebbe in Uganda will resume,” the airline said.

Among the new precautions the airline is taking include passengers presenting a printed copy of a valid negative Covid-19 PCR test result (displaying a QR code) from a test taken at an approved health service no more than 48 hours prior to the scheduled departure of their flight to Dubai.

Passengers are also expected to take a rapid PCR test – based on molecular diagnostic testing intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid for SARS-COV-2 viral RNA – at Entebbe airport no more than six hours before the departure time of the flight with the test report displaying a QR code.

The airline says the new regulations do not apply to UAE citizens or other categories of exempted passengers as previously published.

The United Arab Emirates a week ago suspended flights from Uganda to Dubai until further notice after passengers with negative Covid-19 results tested positive on arrival in Dubai.

Flights from Entebbe were also suspended in June due to the surge of Covid-19 cases and many passengers testing positive for the virus on arrival in Dubai.

In October last year, the airline launched its first intercontinental flight to Dubai which has been one of its most lucrative routes.

During the week flights were suspended, Uganda Airlines has been transporting mainly cargo between Entebbe and Dubai.

Airline officials say that this has inadvertently helped it to build its cargo capacity.

“It has made us intensify our need to streamline our cargo operations. So that has helped the cargo department to be known in the market. Now the market knows that Uganda Airlines has a cargo flight, these are the prices and these are times. It has given us a chance to be known,” Ms Jennifer Bamuturaki, the airline’s interim CEO, told The EastAfrican earlier this week.

Initially cargo fetched the Airline around $13,000 a week but that has now risen to between $30,000 and $45,000. The airline’s target is between $70,000 to $100,000.