Entebbe International Airport

Entebbe International Airport
IATA: EBBICAO: HUEN
EBB
Location of airport in Uganda

Placement on map is approximate
Summary
Airport type Civilian and Military
Operator Civil Aviation Authority of Uganda
Serves Entebbe, Kampala, Mukono
Location Entebbe, Uganda
Elevation AMSL 3,782 ft / 1,153 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 3,658 12,000 Asphalt
12/30 2,408 7,900 Asphalt
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Entebbe International Airport (IATA: EBBICAO: HUEN) is the principal international airport of Uganda.

Contents

Location

It is located near the town of Entebbe, on the shores of Lake Victoria, and about 46 km (29 mi) from the capital, Kampala. The main offices of the Civil Aviation Authority of Uganda are located at the airport.

History

The airport was first constructed in 1928/1929: the first aircraft to use the new airfield were RAF Fairey IIIs of the Cairo-Cape flight which landed on the 900 yards (820 m) grass runway on 17 February 1929. In January 1932 Imperial Airways began to use Entebbe on their Cape-to-Cairo mail services: at this stage, radio was installed. By 1935, the grass runway surfaces had been replaced by murram. In 1944-45 the main runway (12/30) was asphalted and extended to 1,600 yards (1,500 m). On 10 November 1951 the airport was formally re-opened after the facilities had been extended further: runway 12/30 was now 3,300 yards (3,000 m), in preparation for services by the de Havilland Comet. Finally, the existing control tower of the “old airport” was constructed in 1957/58.

The current passenger terminal building was constructed in the mid to late 1970s, together with runway 17/35: the old runway 12/30 was shortened to its current length. The Old Entebbe airport is now used by Uganda's military forces and was the scene of a hostage rescue operation by Israeli Sayeret Matkal, dubbed Operation Entebbe, in 1976, after an Arab-German hijacking of Air France Flight 139 out of Tel Aviv. The scene of that particular rescue was "the old airport", which was recently demolished except for its control tower. In late 2007, a domestic terminal was constructed at the site of the old airport, leaving the "new airport" to handle International flights exclusively.

Passenger traffic

Entebbe International Airport served 720,000 International passengers in 2007. (+10.7% vs. 2006).[3] The unofficial figure of arrivals in 2008 was estimated at 850,000 (+18.1% vs. 2007)[4] In 2009, the estimated arrivals were 930,000 (+9.4% vs 2008), while in 2010, they totaled 1 million (+7.5% vs. 2009).[5] The airport handled a total of 1,023,437 International arrivals in 2010, according to published data.[6] In 2011, International traffic is estimated to have increased to 1.5 million passsengers.[7]

Security arrangements

Entebbe Airport is a Cooperative Security Location of the United States military. [8]

Facilities

Passenger facilities include: Exchange office and Left-luggage office.[9] Entebbe Internatioonal Airport uses the jetway boarding bridge system.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled passenger airlines

Airlines Destinations
African Express Airways Nairobi
Air Uganda Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Juba, Kigali, Mombasa, Nairobi, Zanzibar
British Airways London-Heathrow
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation Goma, Kinshasa
Eagle Air Arua, Gulu, Moyo, Kidepo, Kitgum, Pakuba, Juba, Yei, Bunia
EgyptAir Cairo
Emirates Dubai, Addis Ababa [ends 25 March]
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa
Feeder Airlines Juba[10]
Fly540 Nairobi
Gulf Air Bahrain[11]
Kenya Airways Nairobi
KLM Amsterdam
Precision Air Kilimanjaro, Mwanza
Qatar Airways Doha[12]
Royal Daisy Airlines Juba
RwandAir Kigali
South African Airways Johannesburg
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk, Dar-Es-Salam
United Airlines Limited Gulu, Arua, Kidepo

Cargo airlines

Airlines Destinations
Avient Aviation Liège
Martinair [13] Amsterdam
Uganda Air Cargo Dubai, Johannesburg, Frankfurt, London
Chapman Freeborn[14] Nairobi, Johannesburg, London, Amsterdam

Airlines that ceased flights

Airlines Destinations
Air Tanzania Dar es Salaam
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Johanesburg
Air India Mumbai, New-Delhi
Lufthansa Addis-Ababa, Frankfurt
Sudan Airways Khartoum

Accidents and incidents

External links

See also

Uganda portal
Aviation portal

References