KAMPALA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has procured six passenger aircraft to revamp its national airline carrier that has been grounded for nearly two decades, the Office of the Presidency said in a statement here on Wednesday.
According to the statement, an initial deposit of 1.2 million U.S dollars has been released for the purchase of four Bombardier CRJ900 passenger jets from the Canadian Bombardier Aerospace and two wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft for Uganda Airlines.
The east African country airline, which was established in 1976 but liquidated in 2001 over a more than six million dollars debt, is expected to hit the sky again in November this year.
"On the revival of the national airline, a task force has since been appointed on the same and procurement process for six aircraft to get the airlines up and running in financial year 2018/19 has commenced," said the statement.
The reviving of Uganda Airlines is part of the efforts by President Yoweri Museveni to achieve the much anticipated middle income status for Uganda by 2020.
The president, who has been in power since 1986, described the lack of the national airline as big shame and directed the works and transport ministry to urgently conclude discussions with prospective investors to start the process of setting up a national carrier.
There has been debate over the commercial viability of revamping Uganda Airlines in the face of stiff competition from other airlines operating in the region.