A total of 3.6 million air passengers travelled to or from Nigerian airports in the fourth quarter of 2017 according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The bureau made this known in its “Air Transportation Data and Full Year 2017’’ report posted on its website.
It said the figure grew by 4.89 percent year-on-year and declined by 0.56 percent quarter-on-quarters.
The report stated that the fourth quarter saw steady growth in the number of both domestic and international passengers who travelled to or from Nigerian airports by 6.46 percent and 1.01 percent respectively.
According to the bureau, for the first time that year, more arrivals were recorded than departures for both domestic and international travellers in the quarter under review.
It stated that arrivals and departures in all Nigerian airports in the reviewing quarter were 1.86 million and 1.30 million passengers respectively.
The report said that Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Owerri, and Kano airports served more than 92 percent of total passengers in the fourth quarter.
The report noted that a total of 57,484 aircraft arrived at or departed from Nigerian airports in the quarter, among which 47,223 were domestic aircraft and 10,261 were international aircraft.
The report stated the last quarter of 2017 recorded 33,425,743 Kilogrammes of cargo movement at the international airports.
It, however, said that the figure declined by 41.75 percent year-on-year and by 25.53 percent quarter-on-quarter.
The report stated that the volume of cargo movement in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, and Kano declined sharply by 40.13 percent, 41.67 percent, 79.73 percent, 83.88 percent and 10.80 percent year-on-year in the quarter under review.
It stated that the weight of mail that moved through Lagos was 363,228 kilogrammes, which increased by 255.23 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.
According to the report, mail movement through Abuja international airport grew by 15.11 percent year-on-year.