Dubai-Entebbe: Emirates Celebrates 25 Years Of Uganda Flights

This week marked the 25th anniversary of Dubai-based Emirates operating flights to Uganda, and the airline marked the special event with a one-off flight using its four-class refurbished Boeing 777. Over the past two and a half decades, the carrier has gradually built up capacity and connectivity on the route, helping drive the country’s tourism with global connectivity via Emirates’ hub in Dubai.

Thus far, the airline has carried almost three million passengers on the Dubai-Entebbe route, operating nearly 16,000 flights.

Connecting Uganda Via Dubai For 25 Years

On Friday, Dubai-based Emirates marked the 25th anniversary of connecting its hub, Dubai International Airport (DXB), with Entebbe (EBB), in Uganda. During this period, the carrier has transported over 2.8 million passengers on the Dubai-Entebbe route, operating 15,900 flights.

While the carrier launched the service on a thrice-weekly frequency with a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya in the year 2000, Emirates has since upguaged capacity and connectivity on this route since then. The route was initially flown thrice weekly using an Airbus A330-200 via Nairobi and later via Addis Ababa in Kenya, before switching to direct service in 2007. The capacity was then increased by deploying the Boeing 777-200LRaircraft in 2015, and nowadays, daily services with the larger Boeing 777-300ER aircraft type.

The airline marked this special occasion by operating a one-off service using its refurbished four-class configured 777-300ER, which is being gradually rolled out onto more routes as Emirates continues retrofitting more of its 777s with the newer cabins, including the redesigned business class and the new premium economy cabins. Apart from the daily Emirates flight, the airline’s customers can also book code-sharing flights on the 10 weekly flights operated by flydubai via the Emirates website.

Investing In The Country And The Experience

Uganda remains a key market within Africa for Emirates, with the carrier reporting that since January 2025, the route has recorded a 16% increase in passengers, with passengers connecting from destinations in the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, Thailand, and the Middle East.

The airline has also invested in the country, with the Dubai 7s for Good CSR program, in September 2024, raising nearly $170,000 for building community infrastructure, including sports amenities in a community school in Uganda, providing it with supplies and equipment, a new rugby pitch with covered bleachers, 16 solar-powered water stations, and more.

In the airline’s press release, Emirates’ Country Manager for Uganda, Mohamed Taher, stated,

“Uganda is not only a key market on our network, but also one of our most loved destinations in Africa. Over the last 25 years, we have built strong and prosperous ties with customers, partners and stakeholders by investing in our operations to provide a best-in-class service.”

The airline has also confirmed that as its aircraft cabin refurbishment program continues, Uganda will also be served with the airline’s latest cabins and in-flight amenities.

3 Airlines, 20 Weekly Flights

During the month of October, the DXB-EBB route sees three airlines operating 20 flights weekly, of which Emirates operates daily flights, while flydubai operates 10 weekly flights, and Uganda Airlines operates the remaining three services. The schedule is as follows:

While Emirates operates daily flights using its traditionally configured Boeing 777-300ERs (the only international airline offering first class to and from EBB), flydubai flies this route using its exclusive fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, and Uganda Airlines usually operates this route with its fleet of Airbus A330-800s. However, in rare instances (such as at the date of writing – October 18), data from FlightRadar24 shows the aircraft utilizing a smaller Airbus A320 aircraft.