At the end of 2021, 15.23 million passengers travelled through Nigeria’s domestic and international airports. This is according to the latest Air Transportation Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to the report, the number of passengers who travelled through domestic and international airports in Nigeria in 2020 was 10.48 million. When this is compared with the figure recorded in 2021, the numbers increased by 45.32%.
Of the 15.23 million travellers in 2021, 13.01 million were domestic passengers, while 2.22 million were international passengers. This represents a growth of 43.41% and 57.61%, respectively when compared to the previous year.
Further analysis of the 2021 data shows 6.53 million domestic arrivals, while departures stood at 6.47 million. International passenger arrivals and departures stood at 1.11 million and 171.26 thousand, respectively.
A review of the data by airports shows that the domestic wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja recorded the highest number of domestic travellers, 4.76 million passengers. The Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos came next with 4.09 million passengers. Port Harcourt, Owerri, and Kano Airports recorded 900,728; 583,464; and 545,739 passengers, respectively.
For international travellers, 1.60 million travellers used the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the highest recorded in the year. The Abuja Airport followed with 565,062. This shows that both airports accounted for 97.36% of the total 2.22 million international passengers recorded in 2021.
Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu, Maiduguri, and Katsina international airports accounted for just 2.64% of the travellers.
Overall, there was a significant increase in the total number of domestic and international passengers who passed through Nigerian airports in 2021, showing a gradual pickup of the aviation sector after the coronavirus (COVID-19) hit in 2020 which resulted in travel restrictions globally for the most of 2020.
However, there are fears that the sector may not sustain the growth this year considering recent developments.
Last month, airline operators in the country decried the arbitrary increase in aviation fuel, popularly known as Jet-A1 which has resulted in disruption of flights across the country. Besides this, the cost of air ticket prices has increased by 115%, as airlines have pegged the price of tickets at a N50,000 flat rate against the N23,300 minimum rate in the past.
Many Nigerians have reacted to the increase, with many considering the option of road transport because of the increase, while the few that have boarded flights to various parts of the country since this increase was announced said most of the aeroplanes were almost empty as few passengers were onboard.
If this trend continues, the number of passengers who will travel by air this year may reduce.
The increase in airfares has implications for more than just the finances of travellers, the insecurity situation in the country has made road travel hazardous. Insecurity has also compromised the railways which provided an option for some intercity travels, the latest of which is the attack on the train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna.
Safe and affordable transportation is one more blow to Nigerians in a long list of debilitating occurrences including insecurity, high unemployment, and high inflation among others.