THE Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has stated that the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, recorded over 3.8million passengers between January and August, 2022.
According to the Authority, as of August 2022, the airport processed 3,247,484 domestic passengers and 638,502 international passengers.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu stated these during the 40th anniversary of the Abuja airport and the commissioning of the automated park and pay service.
Yadudu, who was represented by Director of Airport Operations, Captain Muktar Muye, said: “The airport was commissioned on 29th September 1982 and the first commercial flight was Kabo airlines Boeing 727 operating from Kano -Lagos en route Abuja, while the second was Nigeria Airways Boeing 727 aircraft. The airport has continued to grow in leaps and bounds since 1982.
Giving statistics on the passengers and flights processed since last year at the airport, Yadudu said: “In the year 2021, a total of 5,323,905 passengers were processed through the airport, which was a whopping 37.23% increase on the year 2020 figures.
“The airport presently has five terminals namely: domestic, International, pilgrims, cargo, and VIP terminals.
“The airport currently has eight domestic airlines operating with a daily average of 65 flights and 11,774 passengers, and 12 international carriers with an average of 10 flights and 3034 passengers daily.
“As of August 2022, Abuja airport has processed 3,247,484 domestic and 638,502 international passengers.”
On why automated park and pay was introduced, the Regional Manager North Central and Abuja Airport Manager, Kabir Mohammed explained that the initiative was introduced to reduce indiscriminate parking and touting.
Mohammed said with the launch of the initiative, passengers will be required to pay a yet-to-be-disclosed amount after parking for 30 minutes.
He also said the initiative will commence on the 2nd of October.
Mohammed said: “If you go into airports across the globe, you will see that nothing is done manually but if you come to Abuja airport, you will discover that people park indiscriminately and when you try to talk to them, they feel they have the right to park.
“Having studied the situation, we decided that if they must park, then they must pay because we pay parking attendants who ensure they park well.
“With this, the machines will be operated by humans but the humans will not have a direct interface with the car owners which will reduce cases of intimidation, indiscriminate parking, touting, corruption and other unwanted activities.
“Car owners will be required to pay after 30 minutes grace. Once they exceed the time, they will have to pay for the extra time spent. Payment will commence on the 2nd of October.”
Comments are closed.