Jambojet returns to Entebbe with daily flights and a test of staying power

Travellers between Kenya and Uganda have another airline option again, but Jambojet’s return comes with a clear challenge: make the route last. The low-cost carrier has restored daily Nairobi–Entebbe flights after what Capital FM Kenya Business (direct) described as a seven-year break. Officials welcomed the return while pressing the airline to improve service and make the operation commercially viable.

The relaunch flight connected Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi with Entebbe International Airport, bringing the Kenya Airways subsidiary back into the Ugandan market. The daily schedule restores a service that the airline had previously withdrawn. Alongside the welcome for its return, officials put attention on the work needed to attract passengers and retain their business.

Jambojet chief executive Karanja Ndegwa said the connection would help trade, tourism and investment between the two countries. His case for the route went beyond carrying holidaymakers: he presented it as a link supporting several parts of the Kenya–Uganda economic relationship. The return gives the airline another opportunity to serve that market after its earlier withdrawal.

A return shaped by an earlier withdrawal

According to Capital FM Kenya Business (direct), Jambojet suspended the route in 2019 after operating it for about two years. Ndegwa said the airline had gained experience during its time away. He also referred to challenges that had affected the aviation industry, including the COVID-19 pandemic, in discussing the break and the carrier’s return.

Kenya Tourism Board chief executive June Chepkemei said the government was committed to supporting the service and helping make it viable as part of its efforts to expand tourism. Her remarks placed the route within that broader tourism push, while keeping its ability to sustain operations at the centre of the discussion.

Kenya’s high commissioner to Uganda, Ababu Namwamba, welcomed the resumption and said demand for travel between the countries remained strong. But he also pointed to a more demanding task for the returning carrier: passengers now have more options. He urged Jambojet to draw on its time away to improve the service it offers those travellers.

Namwamba said travel demand between Kenya and Uganda remained strong, while noting that passengers now had more choices.

Service quality before further expansion

Aviation and Aerospace Development Principal Secretary Teresia Mbaika linked the wider passenger experience to work at Nairobi’s main airport. She said the government was modernising and expanding JKIA to improve that experience. Those airport efforts formed part of the backdrop to the airline’s return, alongside the calls for better service from the carrier itself.

Mbaika urged Jambojet to ensure the route could operate on a sound commercial footing and to strengthen customer service so it could win and keep passengers. She also called on the airline to consider adding flights as demand grows. That sets the next issue to watch: whether the restored daily connection can establish a viable operation, with any increase in frequency tied to growing demand.