Of course, there can be no wedding without first getting a “yes.” Thus, the celebration package is also offered for marriage proposals. Furthermore, the airline offers the opportunity to acknowledge years of successfully remaining married by taking former brides and grooms to celebrate their anniversary on board.
Jennifer Bamuturaki, Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Airlines, said, as quoted by Ugandan media outlet New Vision, “Sky Celebrations and Sky Weddings are about moving from the ordinary way of celebrating relationship milestones to a very unique choice of taking your party from the ground to the clouds.”
Regional jet or rare widebody?
Alas, the price for the service is not provided. Meanwhile, an experience called “Weddings in the Sky” provided by private jet rental company “Air Charter Service” starts at $28,000 for a two-hour flight on board a plane like the Bombardier Challenger 850, which seats 16 people. Considering that Uganda Airlines only operates two of the (very rare) Airbus A330-800 and four Bombardier CRJ-900, we can see how the price tag could differ widely if you are looking to take the whole plane for yourself (although, of course, we do not really see a widebody being taken out of its usual rotation for a wedding party, but you never know).
A couple using the airline’s new service. (Photo: Uganda Airlines)
Tradition nearly as long as aviation
Weddings in the air are not new. People began regularly requesting ceremonies in the air as early as the 1930s. The earliest recorded marriage on a plane occurred in 1912, albeit on a Wright biplane parked on the ground. Through the years, some pretty remarkable nuptials have taken place in flight.
For instance, in 2018, Pope Francis married a couple on a LATAM Airlines flight from Santiago to the city of Iquique in Chile. The couple, both flight attendants, had initially intended to get married in 2010 when an earthquake ruined their church. Ultimately, they settled for a civil service but were not formally married according to their Catholic faith. When His Holiness heard their story during the pre-flight meet and greet, he blessed their rings before performing the ceremony during the flight itself. Reportedly, the Chairman of LATAM served as a witness and a Chilean cardinal on the flight hand-wrote a marriage certificate.
Cre: Simple Flying
Nguyen Xuan Nghia – COMM
