Kenya becomes the latest country to ban flights from Uganda

Uganda’s neighbor to the east Kenya, has become the latest country to ban flights coming from Uganda due to the worrying COVID 19 cases.

Flights by Kenyan airways in the same manner won’t be flying to Entebbe anymore.

UAE was the first in line to cut off flights coming from Uganda to Dubai a directive that curtailed flights from a number of other African countries seemingly hit hard by COVID 19.

Uganda’s neighbor in the south west Rwanda would follow suit in banning all flights to and from Entebbe to Kigali.

The UK also imposed travel restrictions on passenger flights from Uganda last month.

The spike in COVID 19 cases in the country plus the tough measures issued by the government to contain the virus were cited by these airlines as the major hindrance and reason as to why flights to Uganda were halted until further notice.

Uganda Civil Aviation Authority’s (UCAA) head of communication Mr Vianey Luggya told NTV that they were yet to receive an official communication from Kenya airways on the matter.

“We are yet to get an official communication about Kenya’s decision to cut flights. However, reduction in the number of frequency of flights by any airline is a normal business decision, especially during these times when passenger traffic from one point to another is much less owing to the effects occasioned by the COVID19 pandemic on the Aviation industry across the globe.” Luggya said.

He went ahead to say that they had also restricted travels from India which is classified as a category one country in the spread of COVID 19.

According to a report from Business Daily, Kenyan Airways reduced the number of flights to Uganda from 12 to 9 weekly.

Reduced cargo and lack of enough passengers on the Uganda Kenya route is still cited as the biggest problem.

It should also be noted that Uganda is one of the most major routes for KQ and this will dent their earnings as communicated by the carrier’s CEO Mr Kilavuka Allan.

” There is a third wave in Uganda and we have had to restrict our flights by cutting on frequencies.” Kilavuka said.

Kilavuka went ahead to say that the carrier has been massively affected by the global pandemic.

This is because when things start to normalise a bit and the carrier seems like it’s picking up, lockdowns are announced again in these countries.

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