Entebbe Airport strikes balance with highest passenger flights in 2 years

This is the highest number recorded in a single month (June 2023) since the pandemic, which achievement Uganda Civil Aviation Authority’s (UCAA) Spokesperson Vianney Luggya, highlighted during an interview with Monitor yesterday.

"When you compare this to 135,261 international passengers, a total of 64,458 arrivals and 70,803 departures recorded in the same period of June 2022, it shows there is an additional 25,654 passengers in June 2023 which is a clear sign of progress," he said.

Luggya further revealed that the passenger traffic in June 2023 translated to an average of 5,363 passengers per day, the highest figure since 2019 when an average of about 5,000 passengers per day was recorded for the entire year.

He expressed hope for sustained or even increased traffic throughout the rest of the year.

This performance was partly attributed to departing pilgrims to Mecca in June. However, there has been a notable trend in the shift in the balance of arriving and departing passengers. In the past, departing passengers at Entebbe Airport outnumbered arriving passengers.

Luggya pointed out that in May 2023, the airport had 77,912 departures and 79,297 arrivals, a total of 157,209 passengers for the entire month, averaging 5,071 passengers per day. He added that if this level of consistency is maintained for the rest of the year, the industry may see higher traffic than in 2019.

Regarding cargo, June 2023 saw 5,195 metric tonnes, 1,661 tonnes of imports and 3,534 tonnes of exports, passing through Entebbe International Airport. In 2022, the airport handled a total of 61,000 metric tonnes of cargo.