The Nigerian Aviation sector witnessed a steady rise in air passengers in 2018. This is revealed in the latest Air Transport Report as released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the period ended December, 2018.
According to the NBS report, international air passengers departing Nigeria rose to 2.25 million in 2018, up from 1.99 million in 2017. This represents a 13% rise in international air passengers that departed the country.
Basic Highlights
- Air passengers traffic hits 14.82 million in 2018
- International Air travellers rose by 13%
- Domestic Air travellers inch up by 23%
- Dometic Aircrafts movements up by 11%
- Lagos Airport recorded the highest Air transport traffic
- Dutse and Maiduguri recorded the lowest Air transport traffic in 2018
Air Passengers traffic hits 14.82 million, marking a 3% rise in 2018
Nigeria’s air passengers traffic inched up by 3% as the country recorded 14.82 million travellers in 2018, as against 14.26 million in 2017.
In 2018, domestic air travellers traffic stood at 10.38 million while the international air travellers stood at N4.48 million. This indicates that 70% of air transport traffic 2018 consisted of domestic air travellers.
International departures rose faster than arrivals in 2018
The report shows that international departures rose by 13% in 2018 year-on-year, as against 2017.
In 2018, international departures hit 2.25 million people in 2018, compared to the corresponding value of 1.99 million people in 2017. This implies more international travellers departed Nigeria 2018 than in 2017.
Meanwhile, air passengers arrival also increased to 2.18 million in 2018. In 2017, international passengers arrival stood at 1.94 million, indicating that international air passengers increased by 12% year-on-year.
Hence, international Air passengers that arrived Nigeria stood at 2.25 million in 2018, as against passenger departure that stood at 2.18 million.
Domestic Air Passengers rose by 23%
Also, both domestic air travellers departures and arrivals rose by 23% in 2018. For domestic air travellers, arrivals increased to 6.4 million in 2018, compared to 5.19 million in 2017.
Similarly, domestic departures recorded 6.37 million people in 2018, compared to 5.18 million in 2017. This represents a 23% rise year-on-year.
Domestic Aircraft movements up by 11%
For the period under review, domestic Aircraft movements increased by 11.2% in 2018 year-on-year. In 2018, Aircraft movements rose to 234,367 as against 210,693 in 2017.
A further breakdown shows that aircraft arrivals hits 117,533 in 2018, higher than in 2017. Also, departures rose to 116,834.
Meanwhile, International Aircraft departures rose higher than arrivals
Total International Aircrafts movements for 2018 increased by 38.8%, as against the 9.16% growth of 2017.
However, the rise may be traceable to Aircraft movements departure in 2018 as Aircraft traffic departures from Nigeria rose faster in 2018 than the arrivals. A total number of 28,189 Aircraft movements was recorded, compared to 27,772 arrivals into the country in 2018.
Lagos State recorded the highest Air Passengers traffic, while Dutse and Maiduguri are lowest
Lagos Airport recorded the highest Air passengers traffic in 2018, for both domestic and international traffic statistics. Out of 4.05 million international air passengers traffic in 2018, Lagos State recorded 2.86 million. This represents about 68.6% of the air passengers traffic in 2018. Followed by Abuja and Portharcort Airports with 1.01 million and 90,192 air passengers traffic respectively.
For domestic air passengers traffic, Lagos, Abuja and Porthacourt Airports still recorded the highest passengers traffic for 2018.
However, Bauchi, Kebbi and Dutse Airports recorded the lowest international passenger traffic with 9,523, 15,385 and 3,679 respectively.
