Entebbe Airport. Nov 2014.

[Homo Aeroportus]

Continuation of my TR BRU-EBB.

Entebbe airport is to embark into an expansion program that will a.o. extend its main apron and passenger terminal. Build about 40 years ago, the later has reached and exceeded its capacity (1.5M Pax last year), and at some times of the day it really shows especially at check-in.

On my last day there I was given a detailed tour of the facility, before flying out to Kigali where I was to take my return flight home with SN. This part will be covered separately.


Here is a view from the Control Tower, looking North towards the int’l terminal and main apron. Main RWY 17-35 is on the left.

Remote control panel for airfield lighting. Not precisely new and hi-tech but …. made in Zaventem
The RWY 18-36 has since been decommissioned.

Main (international) terminal check-in hall. Pax are screened and baggage are X-rayed upon entrance in the terminal building before reaching the check-in counters.

Numerous international connections with BA, SN, KL, EK (all wide body jets), MS, KQ, ET, SA, WB (Rwandair), … and starting S15 : EY.


ENHAS does ground handling for most of them in a very professional way. (Well, Mr Georges is there to make sure of this).

For those who are concerned with health risks. Fear not; the situation is under control. True not even mosquitoes there, but these damn lake flies (totally inoffensive but annoying).

A tour on the apron.
Southern edge with one of the two boarding bridges. The Equator line is a couple of hundred meters further South. The embankment marked ENTEBBE will be flattened to extend the apron towards the TWR.

Northern part of the main apron.

ET 763 (ET-ALH) in UN colours. EBB is a main platform for UN operations in eastern DRC and several flights with smaller birds serve daily destinations like Bunia and other airstrips in the area.
Unusual announcements in a passenger terminal : “The UN flight with destination xyz is now ready for boarding at gate 2”.

Not unusual in Africa, a number of “stored” aircraft.
The UTair Mi-26 (RA-06029) is active and flies for UN duties. On its right is 5X-SKA, a 732 of Skyjet Airlines, supposedly wfu since 2009 but you never know.

An An-12 that has seen better days. This is not camo paint it’s a layer of, … well I don’t know what they feed the birds with over there.
The L1011 in the background, my first sighting in many years, in almost pristine condition is 5X-AAV (5X : Uganda) of Skyline Aviation. It also seems to have been registered simultaneously as 3C-MIA, Equatorial Guinea… Yes we can !
Been stored there for more than a year.

Nearby are another couple of An-12 (UP-AN206 and -207) from East Wing Kazakhstan.

Have you seen the guy?

And now, do you see him standing up?
Well it took me another long moment before I realized that this soldier was mounting guard, and by now was close to me.
“Hello. Yes this is a camera. And I am not allowed? And this is an AK-47? OK. Hakuna Matata”.


Time to go back to the terminal anyhow to check-in for my flight to Kigali.

To be continued.

H.A.

[Stij]

Great airport experience!

I must say the airport doesn't look... African, except for the old planes...

And don't we have a couple of old A310 at BRU as well?

Cheers,

Stij

[sn26567]

Interesting report about an African airport! I enjoyed reading it. I have a couple of questions:

The RWY 18-36 has since been decommissioned.

It seems indeed to be by far the shortest runway. Probably not able to accommodate wide-bodies. Do you know its length?

Southern edge with one of the two boarding bridges.

Only two? I guess they are reserved for the long-haul passengers, e.g. on SN?

[Homo Aeroportus]

Great airport experience!

I must say the airport doesn't look... African, except for the old planes...

And don't we have a couple of old A310 at BRU as well?

Cheers,

Stij

Thanks Stij,

Well, EBB shows its age of course and its terminal is bursting at the seams but it is actually well kept.
The airport is well managed and structured, and ENHAS who is the main handler has a former SN "africain" at the helm keeping high standards.

The traffic is fast growing and the development of the infrastructure will keep EBB well positioned in that league of East African countries (NBO, ADD, EBB, KGL, ...).
A large number of African airports have been built in the 1960's and now reach saturation. But to the contrary of many others like Cotonou, Ouaga, Conakry, ABJ, ACC, Lomé, ..., that are totally surrounded by the city, EBB has plenty of room to grow.

The development of the oil industry around Lake Albert gives Uganda good hopes for new and much needed revenues to invest.

H.A.

[Homo Aeroportus]

Interesting report about an African airport! I enjoyed reading it. I have a couple of questions:

The RWY 18-36 has since been decommissioned.

It seems indeed to be by far the shortest runway. Probably not able to accommodate wide-bodies. Do you know its length?

Southern edge with one of the two boarding bridges.

Only two? I guess they are reserved for the long-haul passengers, e.g. on SN?

Thanks André.

Yes 18-36 was around 1500 meters long and, though correctly oriented, became obsolete when larger aircraft started using EBB.
This is why the current main runway 17-35 was built some 40 years ago.
I don't know exactly when 18-36 was decommissioned but it blocked the development of the domestic terminal in that area of the airport.

Today most traffic, for sure LH, use 17-35 that is 3600m long (similar to 25R at EBBR). It is also the only runway equipped with complete airfield lighting.

The cross wind RWY 12-30 is used by smaller traffic, not parking at the main terminal.
It is 2400 m long but the LDA on 12 is reduced to 1950 due to the displaced threshold.

As to the boarding bridges, yes they are mainly used by wide-bodies but strangely enough I never disembarked via the PBB. I seem to remember that on arrival with SN in last November the PBB N°1 was used (KLM?).
Anyhow, for as long as it doesn't rain, disembarking via stairs is the most pleasant way to get this African climate greetings even at night.

Two PBBs is OK. There is just not enough space in the terminal at the moment to accommodate a third boarding room.
As a rule of thumb you may consider around 0.5M Pax/year per bridge. It does vary of course with the type of traffic, the hourly pattern, size of aircraft and so on, but it is a number that stands generally.

H.A.