Kampala, Uganda - Air traffic at Entebbe International Airport is expected to increase as interest by international airlines grows. Dr. Rama Makuza the Managing Director CAA expects that there would be growth from 1.1million passengers by about 7% this year. He said this at the launch of the inaugural Gulf Air flight to Uganda last week.
"There are now 20 airlines that land at Entebbe International Airport. This year alone we have seen Qatar Airlines starting to fly to Uganda and some other airlines have also increased daily and weekly flights to Uganda," Makuza says.
He adds that Uganda's potential to attract more traffic was representative the increased number flights. The attraction to Uganda is mostly due to its untapped tourism potential and the prospecting oil and gas sector.
Domestic traffic at the airport between 2005 slumped from 38,924 to 11,879 in 2010 due to high airport fares. However the expectation from CAA is that with more airlines, fares would reduce which would encourage more domestic traffic at the airport.
Gulf Air which initially pulled out of the Ugandan market in 1993 due to limited traffic and the high cost of doing business has made a return to Entebbe International Airport due to the economic prospects that Uganda has at the moment or is expected to have.
CAA however is not to take these numbers for granted though as it needs to play a critical role in improving airport facilities, branding Uganda and finding ways of reducing the high costs airlines face at the airport.
The airport is still struggling with dilapidated structures, heavy traffic to and from the airport and limited capacity to improve the facilities at the airport.
Dr. Makuza says that CAA has devised a master plan to improve facilities at the airport but he however did not show a clear timeline on when this project will be complete.
"Unfortunately as CAA cannot do much. We need the money from advertisers like telecoms and hotels since tourist bodies are not able to provide us with that incentive at the moment," he said.
Recently a tourist magazine "Lonely Planet" ranked Uganda as a top tourist destination of 2012 with barely less aggressive marketing. Analysts say that if Uganda is to attract more tourists, then it will have to aggressively market tourism even at Entebbe International Airport.
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