Thousands of passengers that flew in and out of Nigeria in 2022 were left without any luggage or answers about where their bags went, Persecondnews.com gathered Thursday.
Nearly 5,000 flights were either delayed or canceled on international routes, and a total of 48,234 baggage items were declared either missing or delayed, according to an executive summary by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority obtained by the Per Second News.
KLM had the highest number of missing baggage, with 5,622 pieces reported missing or delayed, although 5,244 items were subsequently found. Air France and Delta were second and third, with a total of 9,822 baggage items lost, although 90% of it was recovered successfully. Emirates handled passenger baggage nearly perfectly, as only 174 items went missing, with 172 later found.
The documents also showed the total number of flights by both foreign and local airlines.
Over 16 million travelers flew in and out of Nigeria between January and December 2022.
Thirty-seven airlines operated flights through Nigeria in 2022, with 26 airlines operating 13,003 flights on international routes and 11 airlines operating 80,328 on domestic ones. Although more international airlines were traveling to this famous destination, more passengers traveled domestically and regionally.
Egypt air was one of the leading African carriers to fly to Nigeria from its hub in Cairo and many other airports. It operated 706 flights, but half were delayed, while none were canceled.
There were also 732 complaints filed, but the Nigerian NCAA said, “…most of the cases were resolved after follow-up and additional backlog from previous months.”
The Murtala Muhammed International airport in Lagos was the busiest. Many international airlines increased the number of passengers they carried to and from Nigeria in 2022 compared to the previous year. Inbound passengers were 1,648,255, while outbound passengers amounted to 1,855,467.
Regarding passenger traffic, Ethiopian airlines flew the most passengers to and from Nigeria. Over 400,000 passengers traveled to Nigeria on Ethiopian. British Airways was second, carrying 273,138 travelers on 616 flights. In contrast, Emirates airline flew the most passengers on the least number of flights, flying 177,140 travelers on only 365 flights.
Most international flights departed and arrived in Nigeria during April, July, and August, but Africa World, the most scheduled airline, had its highest number of flights in December. Not surprisingly, the highest traffic at Nigerian airports was in December, with 347,497 passengers. However, Ethiopian, the leading carrier, flew its highest number of passengers in September.
Africa World Airlines, the Ghanaian carrier, operated 1,367 flights through Nigeria which was the most by any African carrier. It had 21% of its flights delayed, but none were canceled. Air Peace, Nigeria’s leading airline, operated the most international flights for any Nigerian carrier, while Qatar Airways had the highest number of flights for non-African airlines.
Air Peace operated 1,258 flights, with 532 of them delayed and none of them canceled. It carried 115,410 passengers in the process, while Azman Air, another Nigerian carrier, only operated one flight, carrying 209 passengers.
Although 15 more international airlines were flying to and from Nigeria, more passengers traveled in and around the country during the period in question. From 11 airlines, 80,328 flights operated on domestic routes, with over 12 million passengers leaving and departing Nigerian airports.
Arik Air operated 9,759 flights and carried the most passengers, with a staggering 1,741,425 people flying Arik. With this tremendous operating schedule, 60% of its flights were delayed, while 3% were canceled. 58% of all total domestic flights were delayed. Value Jet had the lowest percentage of delayed flights, with 26% departing and arriving at their destinations late. Ibom Air had 32% of flights delayed which was lower than the other nine carriers.
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