Gulf Air, in December 2011,
announced the re-launch of scheduled flights between Entebbe and
Bahrain with four frequencies a week.
The Bahrain-based airline thus
became the 20th scheduled air operator in Uganda. The airline first
launched its services in Uganda in 1993 but exited in 2000.
Gulf Air's Chief Services Officer,
Mr. Marcus Bernhardt, notes that East Africa's growing tourism
industry and Uganda's discovery of oil were hard to ignore.
"We are opening the doors for
commercial and tourism opportunities in East Africa, the MENA
region and beyond," he says. Gulf Air currently flies to two East
African destinations - Kenya and Uganda with plans to launch
flights to Juba in February 2012. Air traffic at Entebbe
International Airport has steadily grown from 118,527 passengers in
1991 to 1 million in 2010 and is expected to grow with the coming
of more air operators like Gulf Air.
The Managing Director of the Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA), Dr. Rama Makuza, notes that the Authority
is moulding a 20-year Master Plan that will champion the expansion
of Entebbe International Airport to cater for the fast-growing
traffic. He cites the expansion of the Passenger Terminal Building,
an Aircraft Maintenance Centre and a modern Cargo Centre as some of
the critical projects in the expansion plan. Uganda's Ambassador to
the Emirates, Prof. Semakula Kiwanuka, urges the CAA to match the
new developments with modern passenger facilities to help influence
visitors' impressions of Uganda.