MMIA worldwide passenger site visitors hits 4.3 million

Worldwide passenger site visitors on the Murtala Muhammed Worldwide Airport (MMIA), Lagos, rose by 6.5% to 4.3 million in 2024, in comparison with 4.04 million recorded in 2023.

Worldwide cargo site visitors additionally elevated by 11.31% to 150 million kilograms in 2024, up from 135 million kilograms within the earlier 12 months.

BusinessTimes obtained the info from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) profile compiled underneath the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group (ICAO) State Profile framework.

The report confirmed that MMIA, Nigeria’s busiest airport, maintained its place because the nation’s main hub for worldwide journey and cargo motion.

Extra insights  

The FAAN profile additional revealed that worldwide plane actions on the airport grew by 7.69% in 2024, reaching 40,250 flights in comparison with 37,375 flights in 2023.

Nonetheless, home operations recorded a decline, with passenger site visitors falling by 6.46% to 12.5 million in 2024, from 13.37 million in 2023. Equally, home plane actions dropped by 6.81% to 125,000 flights in 2024, down from 134,000 within the earlier 12 months.

General, the figures highlighted the airport’s rising position in dealing with worldwide passengers and cargo, at the same time as native journey slowed.

Income from operations at MMIA remained closely depending on aeronautic sources, accounting for about 92% of earnings, with non-aeronautic sources contributing 8%.

The report positioned MMIA on the coronary heart of FAAN’s broader technique to modernize Nigeria’s airports, strengthen security and safety, and improve the passenger expertise by digital transformation and infrastructure renewal.

What it is best to know  

The Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA) reported that African airways recorded a 13.2% development in worldwide passenger site visitors in 2024, outpacing the 6.5% improve at MMIA. This exhibits that whereas Nigeria’s busiest airport mirrored the regional uptrend, its development was extra modest in comparison with the continental common.

• Insights from officers on the Lagos airport who spoke to BusinessTimes revealed that foodstuff shipments to Nigerians overseas made up a good portion of outbound cargo, whereas point-of-sale (POS) machines from China accounted for a big share of imports by MMIA.
• The officers additional defined that the decline in home plane site visitors in 2024 was pushed by the naira devaluation, which made it tough for airways to supply spare elements and Jet A1 gasoline.

The suspension of Dana Air, one of many main home airways in Nigeria, additionally contributed to the decline after certainly one of its plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 with registration quantity 5N-BKI, skidded off the runway whereas touchdown on a flight from Abuja to Lagos in April 2024.