Aviation History
Uganda's original national carrier operated from the mid-1970s until 2001, when financial troubles forced its closure; Entebbe International Airport, its home base, is separately famous internationally as the site of the July 1976 Air France hijacking and Israeli hostage-rescue raid. After 18 years without a flag carrier, the government re-established Uganda Airlines, which took its first commercial flight in 2019 and has since expanded regionally and to Europe.
Uganda's first national flag carrier was established as a state-owned airline in the mid-1970s.
A hijacked Air France flight was diverted to Entebbe International Airport, leading to the internationally famous Israeli commando rescue raid known as Operation Entebbe.
Uganda Airlines folded after roughly 25 years, leaving the country without a flag carrier for nearly two decades.
The government incorporated a new national carrier, Uganda National Airlines Company, on 30 January 2018 to relaunch scheduled flag-carrier service.
After receiving its Air Operator Certificate in July 2019, the new Uganda Airlines flew its inaugural commercial service from Entebbe to Nairobi on 28 August 2019.
Uganda Airlines launched direct service to London Gatwick on 18 May 2025, its first destination outside Africa.
Uganda Airlines (relaunched 2019) · Air Uganda (private carrier, ceased 2014) · Eagle Air Uganda
Wikipedia, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, airline history archives
Aviation Firsts
Entebbe International Airport — Entebbe: Uganda's only international airport, originally opened by British colonial authorities (no exact original opening year found this session); formally reopened 10 November 1951 after a runway expansion, implying an earlier original opening predating that date. Uganda's 'List of airports in Uganda' Wikipedia page gives no founding dates for any of its other roughly 34 airports and airstrips (Gulu, Arua, Jinja, Masindi, etc.), so an older rival cannot be ruled out -- only that none is documented as older. IATA code EBB is not among our 222 profiled airports. · Wikipedia ↗
Uganda Airlines (2018): The current Uganda National Airlines Company was founded 30 January 2018, commercial operations from 28 August 2019 -- explicitly a revival of the original Uganda Airlines, which operated 1977-2001 before going defunct. No older or different Ugandan-specific carrier predating 1977 was found. · Wikipedia ↗
National Aviation Services (NAS) (Kuwait), 2017: Entebbe Handling Services (ENHAS), Uganda's domestic ground handler founded in 1996, was acquired by Kuwait-based National Aviation Services in 2017 and rebranded National Aviation Services Uganda (NASU) -- the earliest confirmed foreign ground-handling entrant found; no earlier Swissport, dnata, Celebi, Havas or WFS presence in Uganda was found on any of those companies' own pages. In 2022, following Agility's acquisition of Menzies Aviation globally, the unit became Menzies Aviation Uganda (MAU), described in a September 2025 source as 'the largest of the four' ground handlers at Entebbe -- but that 'largest' claim is weakly sourced (one citation is nominally about a shareholder stake sale, another about cargo-handling fee increases, and a third is a self-published 2018 NAS press release), none of which obviously substantiates the superlative attached to it; flagged here as thin, promotional-leaning sourcing rather than solid fact. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · Wikipedia ↗