Air Passenger Traffic Hit 3.7 Million in Q4 2017
The total number of air passengers who traveled to or from Nigerian airports in last quarter of 2017 has hit 3,659,999, air transportation report just released by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) and made available to Economic Confidential in Abuja has said.
This figure grew by 4.89% year-on-year and declined by 0.56% quarter-on-quarter. 2017 Q4 saw steady growth in the number of both domestic and international passengers traveled to or from Nigerian airports, by 6.46% and 1.01% respectively.
The report also said that for the first time of the year, more arrivals were recorded than departures for both domestic and international travelers in 2017 Q4. Arrivals and departures in all Nigerian airports in the reviewing quarter were 1,864,906 and 1,308,959.
Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri, and Kano airports served over 92% of total passengers in the 2017 Q4.
A total of 57,484 aircraft arrived at or departed from Nigerian airports in 2017 Q4, among which 47,223 were domestic aircraft and 10,261 were international aircraft.
The last quarter of 2017 recorded 33,425,743 KG cargo movement in Nigerian international airports. The figure declined by 41.75% year-on-year and by 25.53% quarter-on-quarter. The volume of cargo movement in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, and Kano declined sharply by 40.13% 41.67%, 79.73%, 83.88% and 10.80% year-on-year in 2017 Q4.
– In 2017 Q4, the weight of mail to move through Lagos was 363,228 kilograms which increased by 255.23% from 2016 Q4. Mail movement through Abuja international airports grew by 15.11% year-on-year. The annual total number of passengers who traveled through Nigerian airports was recorded as 13,394,945, of which 6,693,687 at arrivals and 6,701,258 at departures. This total figure in 2017 fell by 8.03% from 2016, mainly due to the six-week closure of Abuja airport in March 2017.
The annual total numbers of domestic and international air passengers grew by 8.40% and 7,15% respectively compared with the previous year. Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Kano airports remained the busiest airports through the year of 2017.
Passengers traveled through Abuja airport largely increased from Q2 (577,386 domestic and 692,207 international) to Q3 (841,401 domestic and 231,414 international) due to the reopening of Abuja airport.
Kaduna airport recorded higher than usual numbers of domestic traffic in the first two quarters of 2017 (124,996 in Q1 and 129,034 in Q2) since a large proportion of air traffic through Abuja was redirected to Kaduna after Abuja airport’s closure in March 2017.
The annual total number of aircraft arrived at or departed from Nigerian airports in 2017 stood at 214,258 which grew marginally by 0.61% from the same quarter in 2016. Cargo movement kept declining since the year of 2014. The annual volume of cargo movement in 2017 -bottomed at 161,800,520 KG (a decline by 17.07% from the annual figure in 2016).
Abuja international airport recorded the highest year-on-year decline in cargo movement traffic among the five airports (59.21%), followed by declines at Enugu (44.35%), and Lagos (18.19%). Cargo movement at Kano international airport and Port Harcourt international airport in 2017 increased by 20.28% and 17.56% respectively. In 2017, the volume of total mail movement in Abuja and Lagos airports in 2017 grew significantly (by
500%) compared with 2016.
