Royal Dutch Airlines KLM has suspended flights to and from Uganda’s Entebbe airport, becoming the first major European carrier to halt the route as Ebola travel curbs hit its crews.
The airline cancelled two Amsterdam to Entebbe services, routed through Kigali in Rwanda, that were due to fly on 30 May and 1 June. KLM said it would contact affected passengers directly about rebooking or refunds.
KLM stressed that Entebbe is not currently classed as an active Ebola risk zone. Several countries have imposed entry measures on anyone who recently passed through Uganda, however, and those rules now extend to flight crews, making the schedule difficult to operate.
The carrier’s Uganda country manager, Rukia Otema, said the route would pause for about two weeks, and that pilots who flew into the country would then face 21 days of isolation. “We’re continuing to monitor the situation and looking into what’s possible,” KLM said in a travel advisory.
The suspension follows the World Health Organization’s (WHO) decision to declare the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern. The agency linked the cases to the rarer Bundibugyo strain of Ebola but stopped short of calling it a pandemic.
Governments have tightened controls in response. The United States introduced stricter screening and entry rules in May, and Brussels Airlines said crew who had visited Uganda or the DRC within the previous 21 days were barred from entering the country.
The curbs are already rippling through regional transport. Uganda recently suspended some flights to the DRC, and other cross border limits have followed across East and Central Africa as authorities work to contain the virus.
Entebbe is a key gateway for business and tourism in East Africa. A prolonged halt to international flights could weigh on travel, trade and tourism across the region.
