By Girma Wake
An open letter to Ugandans on our 7th Anniversary
Dear Ugandans,
I write to you this personal letter looking outside the window, amazed by the beautiful weather in Entebbe, a rare scene from all my worldly travels. Uganda Airlines marks seven years since its revival on 27th August 2026. I wish to congratulate you and the airline, as someone who has spent a lifetime in aviation and understands what a national airline can mean fora country’s pride, economy, and place in the world.
When I joined Uganda Airlines in February, my intention was to help rebuild a national institution. I accepted the responsibility because I believe Uganda deserves an airline that reflects its ambition, discipline, hospitality, and confidence. Because I know from experience that aviation is not just about aircraft in the sky; it is about national identity, connectivity, trade, tourism, jobs, and a country’s belief in itself.
Seven years is still young in an airline’s life. In aviation terms, this is a formative stage. It is the stage where a carrier either builds a firm foundation for the future or becomes vulnerable to doubt, impatience, and internal weakness. That is why this anniversary is not only a moment for celebration, but also a moment for reflection.
Uganda Airlines belongs to the people of Uganda. It is not the property of a few individuals, nor is it merely another company that can be casually discussed, weakened, or dismissed. It is a strategic national asset. And strategic national assets must be protected.
A country must guard what gives it dignity and long-term advantage. No serious nation jokes with its connectivity to the world. No serious nation undermines the institutions that can carry its flag, attract investment, support commerce, and deepen national confidence. Uganda Airlines is one of those institutions.
I have seen this before. In Ethiopia, it is impossible to imagine the nation’s story without Ethiopian Airlines. The airline is woven into the country’s identity, resilience, and progress. It became more than a passenger transporter. It became a symbol of national competence. It created jobs, built skills, connected markets, enabled tourism, and projected the country’s image across continents. Over time, the airline and the nation strengthened each other. This is also seen with Emirates and Dubai, Qatar Airways and Qatar, Lufthansa in Germany, Air France in France and Singapore Airlines, among others, which prides itself on excellence; it couldn’t be what it is today without the strong backing of Singapore and its people.
That is the opportunity before Uganda.
This leads me to the Government of Uganda’s support; I have high regard for the Government’s commitment to the airline. There is nothing the airline has not asked for, and it has not granted it; I always ask staff to return to pay back with unconditional service because this is a rare vantage point that the Government is still willing to offer more than just financial support but a regulatory, enabling environment, cushioning the promise of what is yet to come. For that, I thank the Government.
Uganda Airlines not be there yet, but it can be. And that journey requires patience, seriousness, and collective responsibility.
At the same time, outside forces will always test a young airline. Competition is real. Criticism is inevitable. Scrutiny is necessary. But there is a difference between scrutiny and destruction. There is a difference between accountability and hostility. There is a difference between asking hard questions and creating perception problems that ruin the brand before it has the chance to mature.
An airline can be damaged in many ways. Poor strategy can weaken it. Weak discipline can harm it. Internal divisions can undermine it. It can also suffer when negative perceptions are amplified without regard for the consequences for public trust, customer confidence, and national reputation.
Let me speak candidly to the media.
The media has an important role in any democracy, and I respect that role deeply. The press must ask questions, demand accountability, and shine a light where necessary. But I also believe the media can be a development partner. Development partners do not ignore problems; they help a country confront them constructively. They critique without destroying. They investigate without becoming agents of hopelessness. They understand that institutions under construction need scrutiny, yes, but they also need space to grow, correct, and improve.
If every challenge becomes a national scandal, every setback becomes proof of failure, and every effort is met only with cynicism, then we create perception issues that damage the brand far beyond the immediate story. Aviation runs on confidence. Passengers choose with confidence. Investors engage with confidence. Partners sign agreements with confidence. Once confidence is eroded, rebuilding it is costly and slow.
To address recent media reports and an internal audit report, no transaction was done outside the necessary approvals, and if there are any excesses, the airline has governance structures to address them. The reporting was misleading and one-sided, and the airline is available to answer media questions. If thereare procedural issues, should it be corrected in the media? This kind of culture is what will be broken, and as long as I am still running the airline, it will not be tolerated.
This is why the conversation about Uganda Airlines must be responsible. Critical, yes. Honest, yes. But also patriotic in the truest sense: committed to building rather than breaking.
The same truth applies inside the airline.
No airline succeeds without a strong internal culture. Aircraft can be leased. Systems can be bought. Routes can be planned. But culture must be built. Culture determines whether an airline rises or falls.
At Uganda Airlines, staff culture is not a side issue. It is central to survival and success. We must build a culture of discipline, accountability, teamwork, service, professionalism, and pride in the flag we carry. Every employee must understand that they are custodians of a national mission.
An airline is not usually killed from the outside first. It is often weakened from the inside through indifference, silo thinking, resistance to standards, internal sabotage, or the quiet acceptance of mediocrity. And when internal weakness sets in, outside forces find it easier to attack, distort, or destabilise the institution.
That must and should not be allowed to continue.
Uganda Airlines must be protected from within by a strong culture, and from outside by a shared national commitment to its success.
Over the months since I joined, I have listened carefully. I have listened to staff, government, passengers, industry stakeholders, and ordinary Ugandans. I have heard pride, frustration, expectation, and concern. I have heard questions about performance, sustainability, service, culture, reputation, and direction. All these questions are legitimate. But I have also come to understand something even more important: Uganda Airlines matters deeply to Ugandans. That is why emotions run high. That is why every success is celebrated,and every setback is magnified.
And that is precisely why we must guard the sanctity of this airline.
Since February, my journey at the airline has been one of listening, assessing, and beginning the work of rebuilding. Rebuilding confidence, systems, alignment, operational discipline, and belief among staff, stakeholders, and the travelling public. No airline transformation happens overnight. Aviation is too technical, too regulated, and too competitive for shortcuts. But progress begins with clarity: accepting where we are and where we must go.
One might wonder why there is a bit of quiet; the employees are still the same, the aircraft are still the same, and even though some are grounded, we still face the same problems of operational delays, cancellations, and sometimes not-so-comfortable guest experiences, albeit minimised. The difference is in how we have chosen and agreed to handle these challenges, and I must say the staff have worked hard with commitment.
That is why we are focused not only on today’s operations, but on a long-term vision. As we look ahead, Uganda Airlines must think in terms of a realistic, disciplined, and ambitious 10-year strategy that will be unveiled before the end of the year.
The strategy answers key questions: What kind of airline should Uganda build? Which markets matter most? How do we balance national service with commercial discipline? How do we deepen fleet utilisation, improve customer experience, grow skills, build partnerships, and increase efficiency? How do we make the airline not just visible, but viable? Not just symbolic, but sustainable?
The future of Uganda Airlines will not be secured by emotion alone. It will be secured by hard choices, operational excellence, prudent growth, and consistency of purpose.
We must build an airline that Ugandans trust, that Africa respects, and that the world recognizes as serious.
We must build an institution that helps unlock tourism, supports exporters, connects families, links Uganda to global opportunity, and contributes meaningfully to the country’s development agenda.
And we must protect it from the short-term thinking that often destroys long-term national projects.
Ugandans should guard the sanctity of this airline because institutions like this are not built every day. They take vision, sacrifice, capital, training, and time. Once damaged, they are not easily restored. Once discredited, they do not recover quickly. Once abandoned, the nation loses more than an airline; it loses a strategic tool for its own progress.
So, as we mark this 7-year anniversary, my appeal is simple.
Let us criticise with purpose, not with malice.
Let us hold the airline accountable but not hold it hostage to pessimism.
Let the media be a development partner.
Let staff defend a culture of excellence.
Let leaders make decisions for the long term, not for applause.
And let all Ugandans see Uganda Airlines for what it truly is: not a headline, not a battleground, but a national asset worth protecting.
If we do this, if we build patiently, honestly, and together, then one day it will be impossible to imagine Uganda without Uganda Airlines, just as it is impossible to imagine Ethiopia without Ethiopian Airlines.
And that is the journey we must take together.
Happy 7th Anniversary, Uganda Airlines, and to more yet to come
Girma Wake
Chief Executive Officer, Uganda Airlines
