As road, security situations worsen, domestic airlines gain more passengers

 

Road has over the years been the most commonly used mode of transportation in Nigeria. It is said to account for more than 90 per cent of the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

However, road transport business in Nigeria, especially interstate, has come under increasing threat due to deterioration of roads and worsening security situation.
Bandits are said to regularly lay in ambush along major roads such as the Abuja-Kaduna road, Jos-Zaria road, Lokoja- Abuja highway attacking vehicles and abducting and killing travellers.
A growing number of travellers now prefer to go by air, despite the high cost of flight ticket.
Apart from middle and upper income earners who have made air travel a tradition, lower income earners are joining the growing league of air travellers, avoiding the road due to insecurity.
A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that a total of 5.3 million passengers travelled through Nigerian airports in the first half of 2021 as against 4.9 million recorded in the first half of 2020.
An aviation expert, Shuaibu Ajani, also noted that more investors are turning to airline business because of increasing demand for air travel.

“There are many prospects for airline business in the North-East, for instance, because people don’t want to travel by road as a result of insecurity caused by Boko Haram,” he said.

Also attesting to the increased demand in air services, media and communications officer of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, said despite high air fares, passenger traffic had not gone down as airplanes were still filled to capacity.

“No dwindling passenger traffic; Nigerians are flying and the airports are bustling. Dana aircraft is filled to capacity,” he said.

Also, the spokesperson for Arik Air, Banji Ola, said airlines were operating at full capacity.

Chairman, West Link Airlines, Capt. Ibrahim K. Mshelia, said the demand for air transportation had even extended to cargo.

“For those of us who do charter services, at one point, there was a boom. We had never seen so much demand like that even in normal times,” he added.

-Nigeria Auto Journal