Entebbe’s January passenger numbers point to full recovery by year-end

February 22, 2023 in Business, Companies, Travel & Tourism by Editor

Entebbe International Airport saw a strong start to the year, handling 35pc more passengers during January 2023, relative to the comparable period for 2022. Uganda’s main gateway handled 149,375 two-way passengers in January 2023, says regulator and aerodrome manager Uganda Civil Aviation Authority.  Barring unexpected developments, the monthly numbers suggest that traffic is position to recover or overtake the 2019 peak-year.

Departures exceeded arrivals, with 72,934 passengers disembarking, against 76,441 that embarked during the month, to deliver a combined daily average of 4,818 passengers. That compares with 110,547 passengers for the same period in January 2022.

Corresponding data for cargo, was 5,014 metric tones comprising 1,752 tons of imports and 3,262 tons of exports during the month.

The numbers reflect the start of the shoulder of the winter season that peaked with 156,790 passengers in December 2022, a year that also marked a strong rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic disruptions. But the trend is line with the start to 2020, when 158, 615 passengers used the airport, followed by 144,334, before the abrupt shutdown of international travel mid-March.  Passenger numbers for the year then closed at 565,541, in 2020, compared to 1,802,107 in 2019.

YOY, 67pc percent more passengers passed through the airport compared tor 2021, while traffic recovered to 87pc of pre-Covid numbers.

Entebbe is connected to 28 airports in 17 countries, served by 17 scheduled airlines. Entebbe-Nairobi maintains its position as the busiest route, accounting for 60 of the scheduled 256 departures this week.