Entebbe International Airport handled 151,653 international passengers (77,056 arrivals and 74,597 departures) in the month of July 2022, an average of 4,892 per day compared to 4,508 per day in June, 4,018. The rising number number of passengers shows a steady recovery from a devastating two covid-19 pandemic that had the airport closed to stem the spread of the deadly virus .
According to Mr. Vianney M. Luggya , the Spokesman at the Civil Aviation Authority , (CAA) in the Financial Year 2021/22, a total of 1,244,604 international passengers were facilitated through Entebbe compared to 1,728,783 in the FY 2018/19 prior tocovid 19.. This a good run of numbers compared to 1,355,772 in the FY 2019/20 and 580,238 in the FY 2020/21, which was adversely affected by the COVID19 impact.
Luggya said that a comparison of the FY 2021/22 passenger traffic performance with that of the FY 2018/19 reflects a 71.9% recovery. “In relation to cargo, 64,254 metric tones (40,961 exports & 23,293 imports) were handled in the FY 2021/22 in comparison to 62,121 metric tones in the FY 2018/19. At least 60,637 metric tones of cargo were handled in the FY 2019/20 and 63,978 metric tones of cargo in the FY 2020/21 (25,038 imports & 38,940 exports). Exports have consistently continued to be more than imports. The major exports include flowers, fish, vegetables and fresh produce.,” he added .
Cargo traffic was not affected by the COVID 19 pandemic since cargo operations were maintained even during the 2020 lockdown. The major destinations for Uganda’s cargo produce include Europe, Middle East and the far East, among others.
