1.1 To qualify for an Air Service Licence, an applicant (Company) has to fulfil a number of conditions and requirements which include, among others;

Transcription

1 RESPONSE TO HON. MIKE MUKULA S COMPLAINTS The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) noted with concern various misrepresentations of facts contained in complaints and allegations raised by Hon. Mike Mukula through sections of the media and deems it prudent to clarify as follows: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was established with the objective to promote safe, regular, secure and efficient use and development of Civil Aviation inside and outside Uganda. The Authority is mandated, inter alia, to license air operators, aviation personnel and certify aerodromes and approve Aviation Training Organisations. 1.0 REQUIREMENTS FOR ISSUANCE OF AN AIR SERVICES LICENCE 1.1 To qualify for an Air Service Licence, an applicant (Company) has to fulfil a number of conditions and requirements which include, among others; (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Evidence of financial capability to finance the proposed air transport services Proof of ownership and/or lease agreement in respect of the aircraft to be operated Proof that the Company applying for the licence has full operational control of the aircraft to be operated. A Business Plan that clearly indicates the company s target market and financial plan. 2.0 STATUS OF THE LICENSING OF AIR SERVICES SINCE When CAA was established in 1991, the responsibility of licensing air transport services moved from the then Ministry of Transport and Communications to CAA which discharges this obligation through a Board Licensing Committee. 2.2 The Board Licensing Committee has held 40 meetings at which 130 companies were granted Air Service Licences, 96 of which were issued. 1

2 2.3 Majority of the licence holders failed to commence operations while others started but later suspended operations for various reasons. 2.4 Currently fourteen (14) Airline companies licensed by CAA are operating. 3.0 HON. MIKE MUKULA S APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSING 3.1 During the period , Hon. Mike Mukula submitted applications for Air Service Licensing in respect of the following companies: (i) Speedbird Aviation Services (ii) Sun Air Ltd (iii) Air Uganda International Ltd (iv) Uganda Aviation School 4.0 ACTION BY CAA 4.1 SPEEDBIRD AVIATION SERVICES (SAS) Speedbird Aviation Services was issued Air Services Licence No. CAA/ASL/203/101 on 11 December 1992 for a period of six months. It renewed the licence three times in 1993, 1994 and The company operated two (2), 4-seater aircraft; type C172 and C On 27 July 1994, SAS operating a Kenyan registered aircraft, C402, got involved in an accident at Kidepo. The aircraft was substantially damaged. Fortunately the V.I.P passengers were unhurt On 02 August 1995, the company, once again operating a Kenyan registered aircraft, type PA32, had a fatal accident at Abayita Ababiri, killing all (6) persons on board Concerned with the unsafe operations of the company, CAA suspended the company s licence pending the outcome of the accident investigations, which revealed human error and overloading as cause of the accident. The company ceased operations thereafter. 2

3 4.2. AIR UGANDA INTERNATIONAL LTD (AUIL) Air Uganda International Ltd applied for an Air Services licence in It indicated partnership with Air Namibia, which would provide the aircraft to be operated. The company was issued with an Air Services License No The arrangement did not materialise because AUIL could not qualify for an Air Operator s Certificate without aircraft to operate. Besides, Air Namibia did not provide the requisite aircraft documents to determine which of the two companies would be in full control of the aircraft and its operations In 2002, AUIL introduced South African Airways as a partner. The venture, as was with Air Namibia, did not materialise since AUIL was not an operator. The two foreign airlines would not register their aircraft in Uganda. In absence of the aircraft to be operated, Air Uganda International Ltd could not qualify for an Air Operator s Certificate (AOC). Without the certificate mentioned in above and the aircraft on foreign registers, CAA would not be able to carry out its statutory safety oversight responsibility. 4.3 SUN AIR LTD (SAL) Sun Air Ltd applied for a licence in 2002 but did not fulfil the conditions for issuance of the Air Services Licence, namely; (i) Proof of acquisition of aircraft to be operated, (ii) Proof of financial capability to finance the services The company re-applied three times in 2008, 2010 and 2015 but still failed to meet the requirements for issuance of an Air Services Licence. 4.4 UGANDA AVIATION SCHOOL In January 2014, Uganda Aviation School (UAS) applied for an Air Services Licence to train pilots for; (i) Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) 3

4 (ii) Instrument Rating (IR) (iii) Airline Transport Pilot s Licence (ATPL) (iv) Private Pilot Licence (PPL) UAS did not have facilities to conduct practical training. It advised that the training would be done at East Africa Civil Aviation Academy (EACAA), Soroti In June 2014, the Authority granted UAS a provisional/conditional Air Services Licence No dated 14 June 2014; subject to provision of an Agreement between Uganda Aviation School and EACAA on use of equipment and infrastructure of the Academy. The company failed to provide the Agreement and could therefore not utilise the licence In October 2015, for reasons unknown to the Authority, UAS revised its training scope and decided to limit itself to cabin crew training The first meeting on certification of the school as a cabin crew training Organisation, was convened by CAA and attended by representatives of the Ministry of Education, National Council of Higher Education and UAS After the first phase of certification, there was no response from UAS for a period of six months On 25 April 2016, UAS revived its interest for approval for cabin crew training. It submitted the required training manuals and syllabus for evaluation as below: (i) Training and Procedure Manual (2 files) (ii) Initial Statement of Compliance (1 file) (iii) List of Training functions (1) (iv) Agreements (4) (v) Resumes of key management personnel and bio-data forms (7) (vi) Form: AC-OPS040 (PASI Re-submission) {1} 4

5 4.4.8 Upon receipt of the training documents, UAS Management were invited for the second meeting scheduled for 08 June 2016, but did not show up. The process stopped at phase one. 5.0 MEETINGS WITH UGANDA NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION 5.1 Contrary to allegations made, CAA and the Uganda National Council for Higher Education (UNCHE) had useful discussions and continue to engage in areas of common interest. 5.2 In the meeting held on 03 September 2015, it was agreed that; (i) UNCHE develops a MOU showing areas of collaboration between the two parties. (ii) Accreditation of the aviation school by UNCHE be done after UAS had acquired CAA approval As above, accreditation of UAS as a Training Organisation depends on its full commitment to completing the certification process. 6.0 OTHER COMPANIES REFERRED TO BY HON. MUKULA 6.1 PEARL AIR SERVICES (PAS) The company applied for an ASL in 1997 but did not fulfil requirements for licensing. These included: (i) Proof of acquisition or lease arrangements of aircraft to be operated, (ii) Proof of financial capability to finance the services. The company re-applied in 2004 and 2005 but still failed to meet the requirements. PAS was granted a conditional ASL No in 2006 subject to providing evidence of acquisition of an aircraft to be operated and proof of financial capability to provide the services. The Licence expired before the conditions were fulfilled In September 2014, PAS was once again granted a conditional license subject to the company providing evidence of acquisition of the aircraft and proof of financial capability. The Licence, once again, expired before the conditions were fulfilled. For the entire period of license application, PAS acted as a local representative of Avient, a Zimbabwe registered company. 5

6 6.2 UGANDA AIR CARGO The company has a valid Air Operator Certificate issued on 16 July 2015 and renewed 16 July The company is operational. 7.0 RESULTS OF ICAO AUDIT OF UGANDA IN 2014 Contrary to what was stated in the media, it is not true that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in its final report after audit in 2014, mentioned the suspension of Air Uganda AOC. What was mentioned in the ICAO final report is summarised below; Uganda scored 61.64% Effective Implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) against the Global Average of 62.53% and Africa s average of 44.86%. In EAC Partner States, the average for Effective Implementation was 48.17%. The Effective Implementation Safety Target for African States (according to Abuja 2012 Declaration) stands at 60%. Uganda is among the 22 out of 48 African States that have met the Safety Target set at the African Ministerial Abuja Conference in MEASURES TAKEN TO PROMOTE AIR TRANSPORT GROWTH IN UGANDA CAA has created an enabling environment for attraction of local and foreign Airlines to operate within and out of Uganda. The measures taken include liberalisation of the air transport market access, which provides for, inter alia:- (i) Removal of capacity restrictions relating to aircraft size. (ii) Removal of limitations on a number of frequencies. (iii) Granting airlines 5 th freedom traffic rights. (iv) Full liberalisation of cargo services. 6

7 8.1 The Authority has further put in place the following incentive schemes for both local and foreign operators: Local and Foreign Airlines Any Airline that operates scheduled services into Entebbe Airport at a frequency equal or greater than 7 flights a week, receives 50% discount on landing fees and air navigation charges for one flight. Local Airlines Depending on the nature of the capital investment, a local Airline is given 2.5% of the total capital outlay. This is spread over a 10-year period. It is reimbursed in form of landing fees and air navigation charges. 8.3 The above measures have encouraged: (i) Existing airlines to increase their frequencies to and from Entebbe Airport. (ii) New airlines to start operations to Entebbe Airport The Authority wishes to advise Hon. Mike Mukula to complete the licensing process for both the said aircrafts, Airline and the Aviation School for compliance with standing Regulations before operations MANAGEMENT