Information is emerging that at the start of the 2015/16 winter schedule, KLM will discontinue the selected nonstop services introduced earlier this year from Amsterdam to Entebbe and revert to a fully triangular routing with a stopover in Kigali-Rwanda. These flights will be operated on a daily basis as follows: AMS KGL EBB AMS.
In addition to these services, KLM also codeshares on a number of flights operated by Kenya Airways out of Nairobi into Entebbe.
The decision is seen as handing a competitive advantage to Brussels Airlines, which has moved in the other direction by turning all their flights from Brussels to Entebbe into nonstop services and from the start of their winter schedule will combine Kigali with Bujumbura.
Brussels Airlines is the only full-service carrier offering intercontinental flights to Burundi, while FlyDubai offers low-cost services from Dubai via Entebbe. On a regional basis, it is Kenya Airways and RwandAir flying to Bujumbura.
The recently announced withdrawal of British Airways from Uganda has shuffled the deck of cards for European airlines now vying to capture the BA market to connect passengers destined for London and other airports in the UK. Sales activities by all airlines flying into Uganda were markedly stepped up in Kampala to increase their respective market shares once BA is gone.
