As Uganda marks 60 years of Independence in 2022, we take stock of the flight through the 60 years.
1927 – First flight in Uganda, a caravan type aircraft landed at Port Bell on Lake Victoria shoreline from Wilson Airport in Kenya to deliver mail.
1936 – First airstrip established at Kololo.
1945 – First Airline, East African Airways (EAA) was formed as a joint venture between the three partner States and Zanzibar.
1947 – Construction of Entebbe International Airport.
Early 1950s- The East African Directorate of Civil Aviation (EADCA) was established to regulate the growing air transport industry.
1952 – Entebbe International Airport was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II, where she also departed to return to England on learning of her father’s death and her ascendancy to the throne.
1962 – Traffic at Entebbe International Airport was 27000 passengers. More aerodromes were established around the country to support the tourism industry. Among these were Kasese, Kidepo, Pakuba and later Kisoro, Arua, Gulu, Mbarara and Moroto. Jinja and Tororo supported industrial developments in the respective areas.
1964 – The first four East Africans joined the Air work school at Perth for pilot training.
1965 – Uganda had its first registered Aircraft following East African Airways decision on its fleet ownership after the partner States had become independent.
1967 – Uganda contracted as a Member State of ICAO, the United Nations Agency charged with supervising the orderly development of civil aviation in the world.
1971 – The East African Community opened the region’s first aviation training Academy at Soroti. The Academy trained the finest breed of Pilots and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers on the continent.
1976 – Raid on Entebbe: Daring Rescue mission at Entebbe International Airport by elite Israeli troops of over 100 hostages hijacked by a group of Palestinian and German militia.
1977 – The Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) and Uganda Airlines were formed to fill the service gaps left by the East African Community’s sudden collapse.
1979 – A Boeing B707 of Uganda Airlines was destroyed by the Tanzanian Army during the Liberation war.
1988 – A Boeing B707-388 of Uganda Airlines was involved in a tragic accident at Fiumicino Airport in Italy.
1991 – Uganda established the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) by Act of Parliament (CAP 354). Traffic stood at 118,000 International passengers and 5,200 metric tonnes of cargo.
1992 – Government stepped in with a grant of USD 27.3 Million from the Danish government and a loan of USD 24 million from Spain and the funds greatly improved the infrastructure, equipment and a plant at Entebbe International Airport, attracting 21 international air operators back to Uganda from 9 in 1991. The passenger terminal building was refurbished.
1996 – Runways, Aprons (Aircraft parking yards) were reconstructed.
1998 – Entebbe Airport facilitated the visit of President Bill Clinton
2001 – Uganda Airlines was liquidated.
2002 – The CAA Master Plan was reviewed following a study by the LPA Group.
2005 – CAA shifted its head office to new premises in August to create space for Airlines at the passenger terminal. Facilitated visit of President George Bush
2006 – Procured a mobile Air Traffic Control (ATC) system currently used in
Gulu. Uganda elected on ICAO Council
2007 – Entebbe International Airport facilitated arrival and departure of
Heads of State to the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) 2007. Much of the substantial part of the revised masterplan adopted in 2002 was implemented in preparation for facilitation of CHOGM VVIPs.
Two passenger boarding bridges were installed, the Arrivals Hall was expanded and equipped with escalators and longer baggage reclaim belts.
A state of art Air Traffic Control Radar was procured.
The Rescue and fire- fighting section was boosted with a high speed rescue boat.
The Departures concourse was refurbished and a departing passenger handling system was installed.
A modern VVIP Terminal was constructed complete with a packing Apron to accommodate 40 executive jets.
Aviation fuel storage capacity was expanded from 4.5 million to 7.5 million litres, enough to keep current operations running for 21 days.
5 security watch towers were constructed.
2009 – Installed an automated car parking management system.
2010 – Provided home for East Africa Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (EA- CASSOA) in Entebbe.
2012 – Uganda was voted the best tourism destination in the world. Entebbe International Airport won the Routes Africa Award as the best marketed.
Automated Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Aeronautical Information Management Operations through implementation of Automatic Terminal information Systems (ATIS), Safety Nets and Automatic Weather Observation Systems (AWOS).
2013 – CAA revenues registered an average growth of 58.9%
Received an International Transport award in Madrid, Spain
2014 – Completed Masterplans and engineering designs for Gulu and Kasese Airports.
Established permanent office at ICAO Headquarters, Montreal.
2015 – 30 air operators up from 9 in 1991 and 1.5 million passengers recorded compared to 118,000 in 1991.
Facilitated visit of Pope Francis to Uganda
Rehabilitated Nakasongola Airport
20 year Master plan was launched
2016 – Upgrade and expansion of Entebbe International Airport commenced
following acquisition of a US Dollar 200 million loan from EXIM Bank of China
Implemented Electronic Terrain Obstacle Data (ETOD) to facilitate performance based navigation.
Installed a new baggage handling system (BHS) with capacity to handle 1200- 1800 bags per hour compared to the old, which could handle only 500-700 bags.
2017 – Uganda scored 81.8% above the global average of 73% in the Universal Security Audit Programme-Continuous Monitoring Approach (USAP-CMA) audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
2019 – Uganda received ICAO Council President’s Certificate in recognition of the outstanding performance in the 2017 USAP-CMA.
– CAA Act and subsequently was amended. Salient changes included change of company name from Civil Aviation Authority to Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) and other safety related provisions.
The National Carrier, Uganda Airlines commenced operations in August and now has a fleet of 6 aircraft.
2020 – Commercial Passenger operations in Uganda were suspended in March and resumed in October in a bid to mitigate the spread of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID -19) through air travel.
2021 – UCAA and Entebbe International Airport retained the prestigious ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems (QMS) Certificate following compliance with stringent requirements for the internationally recognized certification by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
2022 – Entebbe International Airport handled 156,081 international passengers in August 2022, an average of 5,034 per day.
Uganda had concluded 51 Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs) of which 27 are operational.
Commissioned a USD 9.5 million dollar project for modernisation and automation of Entebbe International Airport implemented by the Korea International Cooperation Agency and funded by the Republic of Korea.
