Yemisi Izuora
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), says about 3.4 million passengers travelled through Nigerian airports during the first quarter of 2018 as against the 2.6 million passengers recorded in 2017 first quarter.
FAAN’s First Quarter Report shows a 28.25 per cent growth from the same quarter in 2017.
The report indicated that 2.4 million passengers travelled within the country (domestic passengers), while a total of 950,292 passenger traveled out of and into Nigeria (international passengers) during the period.
It also said that 1.6 million passengers were recorded at arrivals while 1.7 million passengers were recorded at the departures during the period under review.
The monthly breakdown showed that 1.1 million passengers comprising 800,609 domestic and 355,176 international passengers were recorded in the month of January.
In February, 1.05 million passengers comprising of 790,196 domestic and 267, 222 international passengers were recorded while a total of 1.2 million passengers comprising of 892,087 domestic and 327,894 international passengers were recorded in March.
On airport by airport basis, Murtala Muhammed Airport recorded the highest number of passengers during the period with 1.5 million passengers comprising of 890,716 domestic and 678,839 international passengers.
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport recorded 1.02 million passengers comprising of 822,109 domestic and 199,875 international passengers during the quarter.
The report further revealed that there were 55,031 aircraft movements during the period compared to the 44,997 aircraft movements recorded during the first quarter of 2017, showing a growth by 22.31 per cent.
The report showed that a total of 44,250 aircraft movements were recorded on domestic route while a total of 10,781 aircraft movements were recorded on international route.
In January, there were 17,112 aircraft movements, 18,224 in February and 19,694 in March.
The report further disclosed that a total of 43.9 million tons of cargo was recorded on international flights comprising 28.4 million tons on arrivals and 15.5 million tons on departures during the period.
It also showed a 6.05 per cent growth from the 43.9 million tons recorded in the first quarter of 2017.