Uganda Airlines will in September launch new flight routes to Lusaka, Abuja and Harare, officials have said.

Abuja will launch on September 12, 2024, with flights operated every Sunday and Thursday by

our flagship A330-800 aircraft to add onto the current regular flights to Lagos, which operate every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday.

On the other side, flights to Lusaka and Harare will launch on September 25, 2024, and will operate four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Uganda Airlines Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Bamuturaki said the new three routes are strategic to the airline's expansion strategy.

"The entry into these markets is to build an efficient and optimized regional market to feed and finance a more profitable long- haul market for the airline as we grow our fleet and its utilization," Bamuturaki said.

"The new services also mark the second phase of our network development and attest to our mission to bring affordable air travel to Ugandans for business and leisure. They also lay the groundwork for the final phase, during which we shall expand our footprint to points in Europe and Asia."

The new routes add to the existing ones to Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Johannesburg, Juba, Kilimanjaro, Kinshasa, Lagos, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Mumbai, Nairobi, and Zanzibar to expand the national carrier to 16 destinations.

The Uganda Airlines Chief commercial officer Adedayo Olawuyi said they are looking at breaking even in the first 18 months of operating the new routes.

"The addition of the three routes should bring us an additional 10% increase to the revenue we are getting today," Olawuyi said.

He noted that they are not only looking at passengers but also cargo , making the routes profitable in the long run for the national carrier.