By Dipo Olowookere
In 2021, the number of international flight departures through the Nigerian airports increased by 54.7 per cent to 1,109,525 from 717,261 in 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In its Air Transportation Data for the full-year 2021, the stats office said the number of arrivals of international passengers into the country rose to 1,109,621 from the 690,765 achieved in 2020.
Analysis of the data by Business Post showed that as for the departure for international flights, the Murtala International Airport in Lagos was the major route for exit from Nigeria, recording 807,648 and was followed by the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja with 275,086.
As for arrivals, the Lagos Airport also topped with 787,874 and was trailed by the Abuja Airport with 289,976, and the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport with 19,804, while the Maiduguri International Airport, Borno State, recorded only 50 arrivals and 18 departures in one year.
In the year, according to the NBS, the total number of international passengers who passed through Nigerian airports stood at 2,219,146 as against the 1,408,026 passengers in 2020, representing a 57.61 per cent growth rate.
As for the total number of domestic passengers through the airports in the country last year, the stats office said it stood at 13,006,481 as against the 9,069,295 recorded in 2020, implying a 43.41 per cent growth rate.
A breakdown showed that the number of arrivals in 2021 stood at 6,533,740, which was higher compared to the 4,870,072 posted a year earlier, while the departure stood at 6,472,741 in 2021 compared with the 4,199,223 achieved in 2020.
Unlike with the international flights, the Abuja airport recorded the highest arrivals and departures at 2,363,210 and 2,395,633 respectively, followed by Lagos with 2,083,568 and 2,010,144 apiece.
The Port Harcourt airport recorded 457,860 domestic arrivals in the year under review and 442,868 domestic departures. The airport in Owerri, Imo State, recorded 289,997 arrivals and 293,467 departures, the Kano airport reported 274,172 arrivals and 271,577 departures, while the Enugu airport posted 255,855 arrivals and 252,658 departures, with the Benin airport achieving 216,503 arrivals and 216,514 departures in the period under consideration.
