The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has said it is arranging another flight for over 100 travellers who missed a the Emirates flight due to delayed Covid-19 tests.
The passengers who were scheduled to travel to UAE aboard Emirates, flight number EK730 at 1845 hours on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 missed their flight due to late arrival at Entebbe International Airport following a delay in getting their COVID-19 PCR test results.
According to UCAA, the airline and testing laboratories are engaging with the affected passengers to enable them finalise modalities to travel on the next flight.
Test and Fly Laboratory and Safari Laboratory, which are responsible for the tests, have come under fire from a section of the public.
But UCAA said the two laboratories are certified to do the tests, and they have been conducting them in a timely way.
“The two private laboratories have been testing Emirates passengers ever since travel restrictions to Dubai were eased about a month ago. The airline and testing laboratories are engaging with the affected passengers to enable them finalise modalities to travel on the next available flight,” they said.
“While Uganda Civil Aviation Authority was not directly involved in the process, the Authority is engaging the various stakeholders to ensure that corrective measures are put in place to avoid recurrence of the mishap. Inconveniences caused to the affected passengers are highly regretted,” they added.
UCAA also said taking a Covid-19 test is a government requirement, which all travellers should abide by.
“Passengers travelling from Uganda to UAE are required by the destination to have an additional COVID-19 PCR test certificate issued within 6 hours prior to departure,” the Authority said on Wednesday, 15 September 2021.
“Emirates usually advises passengers to undertake the PCR test between 1030 to 1300 hours in order to be in time for the flight,” it added.