30 Per Cent Traffic, One Week After Flights Resumption

Moses Godonu

A week after the resumption of domestic flights, passenger traffic remains at between 30 to 40 per cent.

It could be recall that the federal government announced the resumption of domestic flights, to begin in July 8 with operation starting from Lagos and Abuja, and by Saturday, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Owerri.

So far, Arik Air, Air Peace, Dana Air, Azman, Max Air, Ibom Air and Aero Contractors are the airlines which have resumed operations.

But since the flights resumed, the airlines have been carrying less than 50 percent of their capacity.

For instance, on the day of the opening, Air Peace had the highest number of passengers on its first flight with 112 passengers on a Boeing 737 aircraft which could take more than 140 passengers depending on the configuration.

Arik Air had less than 80 passengers on its first flight last Wednesday.

According to an unconfirmed source, passengers are said to tally had continued to dwindle since the first set of flights last Wednesday.

Analysis of Tuesday’s morning and afternoon flights operated by most of the airlines indicated that all of them carried less than 40 percent of the aircraft capacity.

For instance, a Lagos-Port Harcourt morning flight of one of the airlines had 10 passengers and it returned to Lagos with 34.

Another airline had 28 outbound passengers and recorded 49 inbound passengers.

Also, one of the Abuja-Port Harcourt flights indicated that one of the airlines departed with 58 passengers and returned with 53.

Also, a source in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) confirmed that passenger traffic has been hovering at between 30 and 40 percent.

Experts believe the domestic traffic would experience a rebound only when the international flights resume.

An aviation analyst Tayo Ojuri, also told our correspondent that had to 30 percent of the domestic traffic is tied to international operations.

Flight operations was suspended by the federal government amid COVID- 19 since March 2020.