In bid for better service and bigger business opportunities, Uganda Airlines together with Kenya Airways (KQ) have commenced talks to have an interline and re-protection cooperation agreement.
The deal which aims at opening up new destinations for both airlines and granting access to offloading passengers onto each other’s networks has been seen as a ray of good hope towards unification and cheaper air transport within the region.
While speaking about the deal, KQ chief executive Allan Kilavuka hinted out that the cooperation agreement talks are on going.
“The talks are on but the timelines are as soon as we can agree and do the set-up. These (deals) fall within our partnership pillar, which is part of our strategy. It is also in line with our pan-African strategy,” Mr Kilavuka told disclosed.
Will air travel get cheaper?
An interline deal allows passengers to check in once for all the flights on the itinerary, receive boarding passes and transfer luggage from the first airline without having to collect and drop it off.
On the other hand, re-protection allows an airline to offload its passengers onto a rival carrier with whom they share a destination when the affected airline is not able to fly on a select destination they share due to a mechanical failure or change of schedule.
With such an arrangement, passengers using both airlines will save time waiting and collecting luggage dropped off. Passengers will also save resources in bookings while being guaranteed travel in case of any eventualities with one airline sharing the deal.
Ugandan Airlines pursues to seal the deal before the year ends as the carrier seeks to grow revenues.
Peggy Macharia, country manager of Uganda Airlines in Kenya, highlighted about the intentions of of Uganda Airlines to seal the deal.
“Conversations are ongoing with Kenya Airways for both interline and re-protection. A lot is going on around the two and we hope to have an agreement by the end of the year,” she said.
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