Traffic Picks Up At Lagos Airport

Traffic is picking up again at the Lagos airport after the Christmas holidays.

At the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1, where Nigeria’s biggest airline, Arik Air operates, passenger turnout remained low but higher than yesterday, our correspondent observed.

“We are still watching. Passengers are beginning to turn out again,” said a staff of Arik Air who declined to be identified. In the days leading to Christmas, virtually all flights were fully booked and the terminal buildings were overcrowded all over the country.

But on Thursday morning, the N700 million newly commissioned terminal was half empty and hot as work continued in the building.

While the Alpha wing of the terminal building has been commissioned by the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, the Zulu wing is yet to completed. Traffic was also low at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 where the country’s second biggest airline, Aero Contractors and a few others operate.

The terminal was also half empty with few passengers seen at counters buying flight tickets. Traffic was expected to be heavy again days to the end of the years and after the holidays as many people return to their homes to resume work.

—Simon Ateba