Uganda Airlines has secured a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Ethiopian Airlines under a short-term wet lease agreement to restore its disrupted long-haul operations and protect valuable landing slots at London Gatwick Airport, following the grounding of its entire Airbus A330-800neo fleet due to unscheduled maintenance.
The aircraft, registered ET-ASI, will be operated by a 43-member Ethiopian Airlines crew and will position to Entebbe under flight number UR601, using Uganda Airlines’ call sign “CRESTED.” The arrangement, known in the aviation industry as an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance (ACMI) or wet lease, allows Uganda Airlines to resume international services—particularly its strategic London Gatwick route—without deploying its own pilots or technical crew.
The urgency of the arrangement stems from international aviation rules requiring airlines to use at least 80 percent of allocated take-off and landing slots at congested airports under the “use it or lose it” principle. Losing slots at busy airports such as Gatwick could allow competing carriers to claim them, potentially derailing Uganda Airlines’ ambitions to build a sustained intercontinental network.
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