Etihad Airways to exit Uganda

In the cancellation announcement, Etihad offered options for passengers who have purchased tickets on or before December 18, 2017, for travel on or after March 25, 2018.

For partially used or unused tickets, an option for rerouting or rebooking. The airline said any date change fee, as well as fare difference arising from the rerouting or rebooking, is waived for, this one instance only.

The announcement also states that "refund is permitted free of charge whether the ticket is wholly unutilized or partially utilized as long as there are travel segments on or after March 25, 2018, which are impacted by the service termination."

Etihad Airways launched its Abu Dhabi-Entebbe service on May 1, 2015, a two-class Airbus A320 aircraft with 16 Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats, flying four times.

Civil Aviation Authority's publicist, Vianney Luggya, could not be reached for a comment.

When announcing the service, the airline said it was "designed to provide business and leisure travellers with a direct four-times-per-week service between the East African country and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with convenient onward connections to key destinations in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, Europe, the Indian sub-continent, North Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia."

Etihad Airways becomes the latest airline to cease operations from Entebbe International Airport.

In October, South African Airways also announced a reduction in the frequency of its flights from Johannesburg to Entebbe, from seven to six flights per week effective October 29.

Other airlines that are still flying to Entebbe are Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Precision, Egypt Air, and a couple of South Sudanese and cargo airlines, among others.

A low-cost carrier, Vule Airways, also recently announced that it would start operations in Entebbe soon, awaiting regulatory approval from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The airline, owned by a Ugandan, Robert Mwesigwa, and a Briton, Fred Keays, said it plans to fly to the East African Community Partner States' major airports, Southern Africa, London, Moscow, Dubai, Mumbai, Guangzhou, and Tel Aviv.

The developments come at a time when Uganda is also mooting the idea of reviving her national carrier, Uganda Airlines. Several deadlines have been set, only for the airline to fail to take off.

There are also many forces working against the revival of the national carrier, whose collapse, in the first place, is shrouded in mystery. While some claim it was badly mismanaged and was unprofitable, others claim that the airline was collapsed because the noose was narrowing on it over alleged smuggling of contraband items.

The airline also lost the lucrative handling services, snapped up by a private company, Entebbe Handling Services (ENHAS), then owned by foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa, who has reportedly since sold it to a UAE-based firm.