For the year 2017, Makurdi Airport recorded zero passenger movement.
Meanwhile, the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos has once again proven to be the busiest airport in the country with the massive record of passenger and aircraft movements in 2017.
A report obtained from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), put the total passenger movement at Lagos airport; domestic and international at 6,553,151 out of 14,440,169 movements in the year under review.
The figure represents 45.38 per cent of the total air travellers’ traffic across the country in the past year while the other 30 airports and airfields, including Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu airports were responsible for 54.62 percentage movements within the same period.
Apart from this, Lagos Airport also led the packs in aircraft movement in the preceding year with 90,570, representing 36.08 per cent in 2017. The total aircraft movements for 2017 in the 31 airports and airfields were 250,976.
The breakdown of passenger movements in the country in 2017 on the domestic scene indicated that 10,383,452 air travellers arrived and departed 31 aerodromes while Lagos airport had 3,684,052 movements within the same period.
On the international scene, the NCAA report revealed that the total passenger movement was 4,056,717 while the international wing of the Lagos Airport had a total passenger movement of 2,869,099, representing 70.72 percent of the total air travellers.
The monthly breakdown of arriving and departing passengers on the domestic scene in Lagos indicated that in January, a total number of 247,382 passed through the airport; February recorded 190,553 passengers for the airport, March; 225,392, April; 245,408, May; 232,009 and the month of June had 214,790 passenger movement.
Others were July; 243,338, August; 264,100, September; 251,320, October; 229,491, November; 233,907 while a total number of 291,406 passengers passed through the local airport in December 2017. The December figure was the highest for the airport in the past year.
Also on the domestic route, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Sokoto, Ilorin, Yola, Kaduna, Katsina, Minna, Gombe and Enugu airports had total passenger movement as 2,826,113, 253,578, 865,659, 157,208, 142,503, 61,958, 93,834, 135,704, 354,,089, 2,425, 7,213, 27,606 and 279,673 respectively.
Others were Akure, Benin, Eket, Ibadan, Jos, Makurdi, Owerri, Osubi, Zaria, Bauchi, Escravos, Akwa Ibom, Asaba, Finima, Forcados, Kebbi and Dutse with 26,384, 253,780, 17,720, 64,370, 55,177, 416,300, 158,879, 574, 4,541, 187,878, 191,133, 29,768, 64,545, 1,591,18,504 and 693 passenger movement respectively.
On the international scene, Lagos airport recorded 247,385 passenger movement in January, 190,553 in February, 225,391 in March, 245,408 in April, 232,009 in May, 214,790 in June, 243,338 in July, 264,100 in August, 251,320 in September, 229,491 in October, 233,907 in November and 291,406 arrival and departure in the month of December 2017.
In all within the period, Lagos international airport recorded 2,869,099 passenger movement; 1,411,435 and 1,457,664 as arrival and departure in the past year.
Besides, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ilorin, Yola, Kaduna, Katsina, Minna, Gombe and Enugu airports recorded 734,509, 186,795, 81,125, 25, 7,762, 20,495, 6,058, 11,428, 46,832, 9,167, 9,556, 4,888 and 41,344 respectively as passenger movement on the international routes in 2017.
Others were Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi and Dutse airports with 9,523, 47, 14,385 and 3,679 respectively as passenger movement on the international routes across in 2017.
Also, Margret Ekpo International airport had only 25 international passenger movement in 2017.
Besides, on the aircraft movement in the domestic scene, Lagos once again had 62,872 out of 210,693, representing, 29.84 per cent of the total aircraft movement in the 31 airports and airfields across the country in 2017 while others claimed 70.15 per cent of the total traffic.
Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ilorin, Yola, Kaduna, Katsina, Minna, Gombe, Enugu, Akure, Benin, Eket and Ibadan airports had 44,484, 4,285, 16,367, 2,184, 8,711, 1,474, 2,867, 8,711, 1,474, 2, 867, 2,609, 7,713, 529, 888, 736, 4,573, 1,206, 4,216, 1,704 and 1,984 respectively.
Others were Jos, Owerri, Osubi, Zaria, Bauchi, Escravos, Akwa Ibom, Asaba, Finima, Forcados, Kebbi and Dutse with 504, 3,039, 2,472, 104, 276, 10,132, 1,542, 612, 1,571, 73, 276 and 57 aircraft movements respectively on the domestic scene.
On the international routes for aircraft movement, Lagos once again confirmed its leadership position in the country with 27,698 out of the total movement of 40,283 aircraft movement for the year. The Lagos figure represented 68.75 per cent of total aircraft movement at all international airports across the country.
Though, there are only five international airports in Nigeria; Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu, but other airports like Calabar, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ilorin, Yola, Kaduna, Katsina, Minna, Gombe, Enugu, Bauchi, Kebbi and Dutse also recorded aircraft movement on the international scene within the year.
This was so because the airports were used to airlift pilgrims to holy lands; Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem in 2017.
Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ilorin, Yola, Kaduna, Katsina, Minna, Gombe, Enugu, Bauchi, Kebbi and Dutse airports had 7,650, 1,887, 1,821, five, 98, 83, 34, 58, 410, 36, 44, 32, 328, 36, 51 and 12 aircraft movement respectively.
