The Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos has been rated Africa’s 5th busiest airport and the fastest growing airport in the continent in terms of passenger volume. The airport comes after the OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, with 19.1 million passengers annually; the Cairo International Airport; the Cape Town International Airport and the Mohammed V International Airport, Casablanca, Morocco in that order.
With passenger volume doubling to 15 million from the 2014 figure of 7.5 million, MMIA is rated as one of the fastest growing in Africa.
The new terminal which is billed to become operational later this year, is forecast to bring the number of passengers passing through the airport to 30 million in the next few years.
The Nnamdi Azikiwe Internation Airport, Abuja is rated as 12th most busiest following Hurghada International Airport, Hurghada, Egypt which is 6th after MMIA, Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Tunis-Carthage Airport Tunis, and King Shaka International Airport, Durban, South Africa in that order.
Morocco’s Marrakesh Menara Airport, Marrakesh is 13th busiest airport in the continent after the Abuja airport.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which has made a 20-year passenger growth forecast projects that passenger numbers are expected to reach 7.3 billion by 2034, which represents a 4.1 per cent average annual growth in demand for air connectivity and African airports are rated amongst the fastest-growing markets.
It is also projected that with its current growth rate, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and other major airports in the country would benefit from the increased passenger movement with the expansion of the terminal facilities.
Reacting to the rating, spokesman of FAAN, Mr Yakubu Dati said before the end of this year, FAAN would be processing over 20 million passengers annually from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
He hinted that the existing 15 million passengers processed annually would be boosted when the new international terminal with the capacity for another 15 million passengers comes on stream late 2016.
Dati explained that the poor rating of Nigeria’s airports in the past gave impetus to FAAN and the federal government to reposition airport facilities and the result of that effort has improved the rating of the nation’s airports.
He said the new airport terminal would epitomise modernity with the latest flight information display system, the latest electronic gadgets and facilities for easy movement of check-in passengers.
Dati said the airport is being built with the latest security protection system in recognition of the heightened security threat n the world, as terrorists target airport facilities with the aim to do maximum damage.
“When completed the new terminal in Lagos, will be able to process additional 15 million passengers which means we will able to service more than 22 million passengers. All these are things put together to raise aviation to a new level this year,” he said.
(culled from leadership.ng)
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