Entebbe International Airport in October 2021 recorded 100,455 passengers, the biggest number since resumption of commercial passenger operations in October 2020.
Of the 100,455, 45,799 were arrivals and 54,656 departures. Civil Aviation Authority says in October the airport averaged 3,240 passengers per day.
Comparatively, the airport recorded 79,192 passengers in September, 71,360 passengers in August, 52,731 in July and 69,346 in June.
A total of 71,307 passengers were registered in May, 80,785 in April, 71,904 in March, 57,988 in February and 53,504 in January 2021. The figures exclude transit passengers.
In a statement, CAA attributed the surge in traffic in October to among others enhanced vaccination across the globe, commencement of flights in and out of Entebbe by new operators such as Airlink to South Africa and Air Arabia to Sharjah.
The others are commencement of Uganda Airlines flights to Dubai, removal of Uganda from the UK red list in early October and easing of travel restrictions on Ugandans to Dubai, among others.
“In spite of the increased passenger traffic, the average of 3,240 passengers per day in October 2021 is still far below the average of about 5,000 passengers per day in 2019 before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic,” CAA said in a statement.
On the side of cargo, the airport recorded 5,371 metric tonnes of cargo in October 2021 (2,243 imports and 3,128 exports).