Uganda Airlines has made Ksh.9.5 million from transporting dead bodies

Uganda’s national carrier Uganda Airlines has announced that it made Sh.245 million, which is about Ksh.9.5 million, from transporting dead bodies since resuming flights nearly two years ago.

The airline said the bodies were mainly of Ugandans being ferried back home, noting that on average, they pick and return home one body each week.

Morris Ongwech, the manager-in-charge of cargo at Uganda Airlines, told the Daily Monitor  that transporting a body involves packaging it in a specialised coffin that is typically heavier than normal, weighing between 130 and 180 kilogrammes.

They then charge each kilogramme at $8 (Ksh.1,120), which means that transporting a body back home costs about 5 million Ugandan shilling (Ksh.192,000).

“From October 2021 when we commenced our flights, the airline has transported about 47 bodies into the country, mainly from United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Africa, which are countries where many of Uganda’s labourers are found,” Ongwech said.

The airline said it does not transport many bodies because of the already existing competition from other regional airlines such as Kenya Airways.

Kenya Airways says on its website that domestic repatriation costs Ksh.25,000 on the Nairobi-Mombasa and Nairobi-Kisumu routes, while Mombasa-Kisumu is Ksh.35,000.

Regionally, the airline lists a flat rate of $600 (Ksh.84,000) for Nairobi-Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Bujumbura and Entebbe; while between Mombasa and the same cities the cost is $800 (Ksh.112,000).