Daily Independent Online.
*
Friday, August 13, 2004.
Low revenue worries FAAN
By Rotimi Durojaiye
Aviation
Correspondent, Lagos
The management of
the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) are bothered by the low
traffic flow generated by the 21 airports in the country.
Investigations by
Daily Independent revealed that the traffic flow was too low for the
financial viability of the airports when compared with what obtains in other
parts of the world.
“The annual
passenger traffic at our 21 airports last year was about seven million. Atlanta
Airport alone generated 80 million passengers per year”, said our source.
The source
revealed that Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom generates about 64 million
passengers per year, while Johannesburg Airport, South Africa records nine million passengers yearly.
It was further
revealed that only the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja
and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, are the most viable
in the country. While Lagos was
said to have generated N6.3 billion last year, Abuja and Kano airports were
said to have generated N674 million and N80 million, respectively.
The source said
that the revenue generated was too low to support the maintenance requirement
and capital programmes of the airports.
