Somali President Sheikh Hassan Muhamud being seen off at Entebbe Airport (PHOTO /Courtesy)
KAMPALA — Entebbe International Airport has registered an increase in the number of daily passengers with an average of 5034 per day in August up from 4892 in July, 4508 in June and 4018 in May, latest figures have indicated.
The airport handled upto 156, 081 international passengers in the month of August alone, Mr. Vianney Luggya, the spokesman of the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, said—explaining that “there were 73,899 arrivals and 82,182 departures,” an average of 5,034 passengers per day.
He attributed the steady gradual growth in traffic to increased vaccination campaigns against Covid across the globe.
“The steady increase in passenger traffic is attributed to a number of factors, including widespread vaccination across the globe, which has led to a relaxation of some previously stringent travel requirements. The fully vaccinated are exempted from PCR test requirements at Entebbe,” he said in a statement Monday morning.
“Confidence building measures by airports, including Entebbe & Airlines across the globe have reassured passengers. Travel by pilgrims to & from Mecca was key in July, and so is travel for trade & employment in the Middle East. Conferences are back & tourism numbers are rising.”
Mr. Fred Bamwesigye, the Director General of the UCAA told reporters recently that the on-going expansion works of Entebbe Airport will lead to an increase of passenger traffic to 3.5 million annually from the current 1.8 million.
“We are looking at having up to 3.5 million using the airport by next year,” he said, Bamwesigye noting that, the on-going airport expansion works include erection of a new cargo centre with storage capacity of 100,000 tonnes, way higher than 59,000 tonnes of the former centre, an apron, an upgrade on the runway 12/30 among others.
Expansion on the airport according to Robert Ssebalamu, a tourism operator in Entebbe municipality will see more tourists flying into the country which would boost the tourism industry further.
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