Notwithstanding the restrictions and devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the Nigerian economy, more than 14.2 million persons travelled by air in the country through domestic and international flights in 2021.
Records from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) showed that the number of passengers on inbound domestic flights were 5, 977, 927, while outbound domestic flights were 6, 072, 337, making a total of 12, 050, 264.
In the same period, inbound international flights carried 1, 086, 395 passengers and outbound international flights conveyed 1, 112, 884, making a total of 2, 199, 279. This made the total of both domestic and international passengers that were airlifted 14, 249, 543.
Apart from 2020, when there were no scheduled flight operations for about four months, the highest passenger traffic recorded in air travel in the past five years was in 2019, when passenger traffic rose to 17, 580, 023.
Details of the travel statistics obtained from NCAA also indicated that 27 international airlines operated 9, 673 flights with 3, 216 delays, 37 cancellations, 24 air/ramp returns, 18, 458 missing baggage and out of that number, 16, 978 baggage were later found. During the period under review also, there were 45 overbooked flights and denied boarding for international travel and 60 complaints about pilferage and discourtesy.
There were 105 complaints, out of which 60 cases were resolved.
In terms of domestic airlines, there were 10 airlines, which operated 74, 537, 42 flights. Also, there were 328, 542 flight cancellations, 110 air/ramp returns and 1, 086 delayed flights. Similarly, there were also 1, 086 delayed/missing bags. The number of baggage recovered were 1, 082 and over booking was 27, while pilferage, 281, complaints 308 and resolved cases, 227.
Total number of flights operated by international airlines included African World Airlines, 1, 142; Air Cote D’Ivoire, 530; Air France, 255; Air Peace, 699; Asky Airline, 884; Azman Air, three; Badr Air, 47; British Airways, 584; Cronos Air, 130; Delta Airline, 350, and Egypt Air, 543.
Others were Emirates, 225; Ethiopian Airlines, 828; Kenya Airways, 721; KLM, 229; Lufthansa, 555; Middle East Airlines, 122; Qatar Airways, 679; Royal Air Maroc, 173; RwandAir, 310; Saudi Air, 24 and South Africa Airways, eight.
There were also TAAG Angola, 15; Tchad Air, 26; Turkish Airlines, 669, United Air Lines, 12 and Virgin Atlantic, 363.
Operated flights by domestic airlines were as follows: Aero Contractors, 6,937; Arik Air, 9, 024; Azman Air, 3, 921; Dana Air, […]