By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

Entebbe International Airport has continued to register increasing passenger numbers after the Covid-19 lockdown that grounded the global aviation industry. The country’s only international airport recorded 149,375 passenger arrivals and departure in January 2023 with 72,934 arriving and a further 76,441 departing, making and average of 4,818 passengers per day. This is an increase of more than 350 passengers compared to the same period of January 2022 where 110,547 and departures were recorded.

However, compared to December 2022, January saw a slight decline in numbers from 156,790 passengers to 149,375 passengers. During the same period of December in 2021 only 123,576 passengers arrived and departed from the same airtport.

Vianey Lugya, the spokesperson of the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority said in 2022, a total number 1,574,405 passengers arrived and departed from Entebbe International Airport, compared to 941,688 in 2021, 565,541 in 2020 & 1,802,107 in 2019, the period before Covid-19 devastated the global travel business.

He said the post COVID19 recovery now stands at 87%, which he said is quite impressive and is hopeful that the figures will continue to rise.

“In relation to cargo, the airport recorded 5,014 metric tones (imports 1,752 and exports 3,262) in January 2023. A total of 61,066 tones in 2022, 64,172 tones in 2021, 59,720 tones in 2020 and 64,701 tones in 2019. There are more exports than imports,” he said.

Lugya said they are committed to ensuring that passengers enjoy their stay while transiting through Entebbe International Airport.

“We undertake engagement of all the stakeholders operating at the airport on a regular basis with a view of enhancing the passenger experience. We are committed to ensuring better service provision and highly appreciate feedback,” he said.

Expansion

Last week, while appearing before the committee on national economy at parliament, officials from the entity defended the ongoing expansion work at the airport and said they are on course to deliver a clean and modern airport, ready to compete with the best global airports.

The team lead by Fred Bamwesigye Kanyangoga, the Director General of UCAA told the committee that the phase one of the expansion that include strengthening of runway 17/35, strengthening and expansion of Apron 1, rehabilitation of apron 2, strengthening of apron 4, strengthening of runway 12/30, onsite water supply system, fire water system and its associated facilities, exploration and design and change in cargo building are all near completion.

Kanyangoga said while work is ongoing in some sections, majority of the work has been completed and facilities are in use.

“The Cargo component is finished 100 percent, the runways are finished, the access roads are finished and the terminal building of 20,000 square metres is the one which is still at 8 percent because they have just started it,” he told this newspaper on the sidelines of the committee appearance.

Uganda Civil Aviation Authority launched the upgrading and expansion of the airport in 2015 after parliament authorized it to borrow up to $200 million for the project and work was expected to be completed in 2023. However, the project has since delayed and is expected to be complete by next year.

Kanyangoga said the $200 million has done a lot of work in modernizing Entebbe international airport. He said most of the facilities at the airport were constructed in 1970s and that it had been long overdue.

“This was loan which we took to expand the facilities to accommodate the passenger numbers to 3.5 million passengers per year initially, because our target is 12 million passengers per year in the long run,” he said.

“That is the reason why we want to add phase two immediately and in that we shall ask for another 100,000 metric tonne cargo facility and as we do that we shall also expand the passenger side. I also want to make it the clear although it is not the loan that is expanding, it has made is to improve and expand on infrastructure that had been built in 1970s and much of it is not talked about but the loan has really done a lot to help us improve on some of those facilities,” he added.

He said while phase one of the project is almost complete, some of the things will be rolled into phase two and pledged that the second phase will build on what has already been done. “We shall do better with phase two which will include the lighting of the second runway 12/30 near the VVIP, work on multistoried car park which will in turn increase non aeronautical revenue, the access roads, construction of the air traffic control tower because we want to shift it from there and also help us to start training school. We also want to harmonise the current infrastructure with the new one and create some ambience