A total of 17 Airline firms are operating in Uganda at Entebbe International Airport including Uganda airlines, Kenya airlines, Emirates, Fly Dubai, Rwanda air among others and 8 aviation institutions so far have been approved by Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) including AirServ, Kubis Aviation College, Uganda Aviation School just mention but a few.
According to UCAA spokesperson, Vianney Luggya, the aviation institution has seen progress since 1926 when the first aircraft that landed at Portbell in Luzira along Lake Victoria shoreline from no passengers to 27,000 in 1962, 11,800 in 1991 and a maximum number of 1,800,000 passengers in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a plunge.
Luggya says that the construction work of the Entebbe International airport commenced in 1947 and completed in 1952.
“However Uganda formed it’s Uganda Airlines in 1977 that operated to 2001 when it had a break, and finally in 2019 it came back into operations,” he said.
“The return of the Uganda Airlines into operations has boasted both the passengers and cargos capacities since many have used it’s flights mainly to Dubai and South Africa,” he added.
While celebrating Uganda at 50 in 2012, UCAA made history when it organized an Airshow event and over 2000 people enjoyed flying around the country at a lower cost.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the aviation institution that made a reduction in the number of passengers using the airport however Luggya said that its now at 90% recovery and they think that by the end of 2023 it will be a full recovery.
“There will be an increase of the airport’s passengers capacity by the next year 2023 after the completion of the construction work of new facilities at the Entebbe International Airport from 2 million passengers now to 3.5million and 7 million passengers later by 2033.” Luggya revealed.
Recently Fred Bamwesigye the UCAA Director General, the minister of state for transport Fred Byamukama commissioned a USD 9.5m new modernized and automated technology installed at Entebbe International airport by the Korea International Corporation (KOICA).
This project will see the installation of over 100 long range cameras along the two airport runways, giant screens, terminal operation center, training of local workers among others to reduce human interference and error that is the key to enhancing safety.
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