The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the country recorded 3.20 million foreign and domestic air passenger movements in the second quarter of 2021.
It stated this on Thursday in its “Air Transportation Data (Q2 2021)”, published on its website in Abuja.
According to the report, domestic air passengers’ movement in the period under review stood at 2.756 million.
The breakdown showed that arrival in second quarter stood at 1,375,002 and departure 1,381,696, higher than the 1,274,350 reported for arrivals in the first quarter and 1,247,797 for departures.
It also said the second quarter figures were higher than what was recorded in the same period of 2020 which was reported at 1,225,557 for arrivals and 615,243 for departures.
“On a year-on-year basis, arrival in second quarter recorded a growth rate of 12.19 per cent, while growth rate of departure stood at 124.58 per cent.
“Lower figures in second quarter of 2020 reflect the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in restricting movements domestically.”
It, however, said that for foreign movement statistics, arrival in second quarter of 2021 recorded 220,171, while departures stood at 232,501, higher than first quarter which had 212,977 arrivals and 222,453 departures.
It added that growth rate of foreign movement of passengers in second quarter 2021 was 5,852.18 per cent for arrivals and 1,338.48 per cent for departures showing better performance of the sector.
The report stated further that the 2021 figures are lower when compared to first quarter 2020 which had 419,849 arrivals and 448,273 departures.
The report added that second quarter 2020 foreign movement arrival was put at 3,699, while departures stood at 16,163.
The report indicated that Abuja airport topped the list of domestic passenger movement in the year with 975,973 arrivals and 973,317 departures.
Lagos followed closely with 838,820 arrivals and 787,376 departures.
Meanwhile, for foreign passenger movements, Lagos accounted for 313,702 arrivals and 339,364 departures, followed by Abuja with 116,198 arrivals and 109,858 departures.
The NBS said that in arriving at the report, data was supplied administratively by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and verified and validated by the bureau.
