Nigerian airports handled 14.5 million passengers in 2015 — NBS

About 14.57 million passengers flew through the country's airports in 2015, a report on the country's aviation sector released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

The 12-page report, which was made available to our correspondent by the NBS on Sunday, stated that the number of passengers was on a steady increase between January and December.

The report stated that in the first quarter, about 3.42 million passengers flew through the airports, made up of 2.43 million domestic passengers and 990,000 passengers on international routes.

For the second, third and fourth quarters, the NBS report put the number of passengers at 3.52 million (domestic 2.47 million, international 1.05 million); 3.82 million (domestic 2.60 million, international 1.22 million) and 3.81 million (domestic 2.72 million and 1.09 million), respectively.

It stated, 'In the third quarter of 2015, the total number of passengers to travel through Nigerian airports was 3,824,319, which represents an increase of 299,533 relative to the number in the second quarter. However, the number was still 2.8 per cent less than in the third quarter of 2014 when the total number of passengers was 3,936,018.

'The fourth quarter saw both a quarterly and a year-on-year decline of 0.4 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively, with a total of 3,810,758 passengers, compared to 4,163,762 passengers in the fourth quarter of 2014.'

The report stated that Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos remained the busiest airport in the country.

For instance, in the third quarter of 2015, the report said the airport had 961,689 passengers travelling through it, while 983,903 also passed through it in the fourth quarter of 2015.

This, the report noted, represented 37 per cent and 36.1 per cent of the total passenger traffic, respectively.

In contrast, it said the domestic wing of the Abuja airport, which is the second largest in terms of passenger traffic, increased its share of passengers travelling through it relative to 2014.

For instance, in the third quarter of 2015, a total of 903,972 passengers going to domestic destinations travelled through the airport, and 920,415 travelled through it in the fourth quarter.

This represents 34.7 per cent and 33.8 per cent, respectively compared to 29.7 per cent and 31.7 per cent in the third and fourth quarters of 2014.