CAA grants Uganda Airlines Approved Maintenance Organisation certificate

March 21, 2024 in Business, Companies by Editor

Flag carrier Uganda Airlines can now carry out certain maintenance tasks on its fleet in-house, following the securing of Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) certification from regulator Uganda Civil Aviation Authority. The certificate issued on March 20, 2024, will be valid for the year running to March 19, 2025.

According to a copy of the certificate signed by Mr. Ronny Barongo, UCAA’s director for safety, security and economic regulation that 256BN has seen, Uganda Airlines is authorised to carry out Class 5 aircraft, engine and component maintenance activities. The carrier is also rated for level 6 maintenance for large aircraft, turbine engines and accessories, covering its A330 and CRJ fleets.

Uganda Airlines CRJ-900 aircraft are powered by two rear-mounted General Electric CF34-8C5 turbofan engines, while the A330-800s are powered by Trent 7000.

Officials from both Uganda Airlines and UCAA were not immediately available to comment, but the carrier has been spooling up for AMO status by training personnel and putting in place the tooling, required to execute the tasks under a USD 3 million project.

Chief executive Jenifer Bamuturaki has previously said that executing the certified tasks in-house would generate significant time and money savings for the airline. For instance, the airlines technicians and engineers can now install certain line components on aircraft at base, rather than wait for a similarly qualified professional to fly in from abroad to execute such tasks. AMO is also part of the baby steps towards building a full maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) organisation, that will over time, see the scope of approved tasks expand. It will also become a revenue centre for the carrier once capacity to take on third-party work is established.

The development is a boon for young and aspiring Ugandan aviation technicians, especially when the carrier secures Approved Training Organisation (ATO) status, which it has been working towards for some time.

AMO certification comes on the back of self-handling, which the airline started back in 2022 and is now on course to undertake third-party handling for other airlines that operate into Entebbe International Airport.