Passenger traffic at Entebbe Airport hits 2021’s all-time high

A total of 100,455 passengers for both departures and arrivals at an average of 3240 passengers per day used Entebbe International Airport in October to ensure the airport records the highest number of passengers in one month since the onset of the Covid pandemic.

“The surge in traffic in October is attributed to a number of factors, including enhanced vaccination across the globe, commencement of flights in and out of Entebbe by new operators such as Airlink to South Africa and Air Arabia to Sharjah and commencement of Uganda Airlines flights to Dubai,” said the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson, Vianney Luggya.

He also attributed the increase in number of passengers to the removal of Uganda from the UK red list in early October and easing of travel restrictions on Ugandans to Dubai, among others.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, commencement of flights to Dubai by the national carrier saw many Ugandans and other nationalities traveling to and from Dubai use the airline.

However, according to Luggya, whereas there is increased passenger traffic to an average of 3240 passengers per day in October, 2021, the figure is still far below the average of about 5,000 passengers per day in 2019 before the advent of the Covid pandemic.

“On the side of cargo, the airport recorded 5,371 metric tonnes of cargo in October 2021 with 2,243 metric tons of imports and 3,128 for exports,”Luggya said.