Entebbe International Airport

Entebbe International Airport (EBB) is Uganda's sole international airport and one of East Africa's most strategically important aviation gateways. Located on the Nakiwogo peninsula jutting into Lake Victoria, 40 km (25 mi) south of Kampala at 3,782 ft (1,153 m) elevation, the airport sits on one of the highest lakeshore sites of any major commercial airport worldwide. It operates two asphalt runways - the primary 17/35 at 12,000 ft (3,658 m) is one of East Africa's longest, handling fully loaded widebody cargo freighters, while the secondary 12/30 at 7,900 ft (2,408 m) serves light aircraft and UN humanitarian operations. EBB serves 48 routes to 33 destinations on 27 airlines (2026), with home carrier Uganda Airlines (re-launched in 2019) connecting Entebbe to Dubai, Mumbai, London Gatwick, Lagos and regional African capitals. Scheduled partners include Emirates, Qatar Airways, KLM, Turkish Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, South African Airways, FlyDubai, Egyptair and Saudia. The airport is also a major base for the World Food Programme, UNHAS and MONUSCO operations across the Great Lakes region, with a dedicated humanitarian apron handling UN flights to DRC, South Sudan and Burundi. Entebbe is historically significant as the site of Operation Thunderbolt - the 1976 Israeli rescue of Air France Flight 139 hostages from the old terminal, which remains preserved on the apron. A multi-year Chinese-financed expansion through 2024 delivered new cargo facilities, additional jet bridges and an expanded arrivals terminal, positioning EBB as a competitive secondary hub for East Africa. Pre-pandemic passenger traffic approached 2 million annually. EBB is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Uganda and remains one of the few major African capital airports without a private concessionaire - a policy the government is now reconsidering as Chinese and Gulf investors circle. The airport's lakeshore location means rapid approach over Lake Victoria, one of the world's busiest tropical water bodies for commercial fishing traffic, which creates unique bird-strike and wildlife-management requirements.