Nigeria’s Air Passenger Traffic Rises 11.9% to 18.8 Million, Now Africa’s Fourth-Largest Market

Nigeria recorded more than 18.8 million domestic and international air passengers in 2025, an 11.9 per cent year-on-year increase that cements the country’s position as Africa’s fourth-largest aviation market.

The figure was disclosed by Mrs Olubunmi Onabanjo-Kuku, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, in her welcome address at the ACI Africa Regional Conference and Exhibition 2026 in Abuja. She spoke in her capacity as Vice-President of Airports Council International Africa.

“Our aviation market now ranks as the fourth-largest in Africa, with over 18.8 million domestic and international passengers recorded in 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 11.9 per cent,” she told delegates.

The conference, themed *Next-Gen Airports: Driving Performance and Resilience*, brought together airport executives, regulators, financiers, technology providers and industry stakeholders from across Africa and beyond. Onabanjo-Kuku described the theme as a strategic mandate rather than a conference slogan. “This gathering of minds, this convergence of vision, could not have come at a more consequential moment for African aviation,” she said.

She cited International Air Transport Association data showing a 6.4 per cent year-on-year rise in international passenger demand among African airlines in July 2026, against a 0.1 per cent decline globally over the same period. Overall African passenger demand grew 5.2 per cent. “This is not a marginal improvement,” she said. “This continent is on the move.”

Nigeria is contributing significantly to that momentum. The Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, recorded the fastest growth in scheduled seat capacity among Africa’s ten largest airports in September, at 24.1 per cent. Nigeria’s total scheduled airline capacity for the month reached 1.19 million seats, a 37.4 per cent increase over the previous year. Onabanjo-Kuku attributed the expansion partly to currency reforms, new aircraft leasing arrangements and renewed confidence among international carriers. “Since the current Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development took office, several airlines have resumed operations in Nigeria, and more are expected soon,” she said.

But she cautioned against reading rising passenger numbers as evidence that the continent’s aviation challenges have been resolved. Africa, despite its population, still accounts for only about one per cent of global air traffic. “In Nigeria alone, with a population exceeding 220 million, we record approximately 19.5 million passengers annually across 28 airports. The potential is vast, but the gap between where we are and where we could be remains substantial,” she said. “This is not a reason for despair; it is a reason for deliberate, strategic action.”

She identified funding constraints, infrastructure deficits, high operating costs, fragmented connectivity and the difficulty of maintaining affordable airport charges while delivering modern facilities as persistent obstacles. Against that backdrop, she said FAAN had concentrated on safety, capacity and infrastructure while pursuing digital transformation. “We have focused on the fundamentals: safe runways, functional terminals and reliable systems,” she said.

The authority has rehabilitated a major runway at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, upgraded terminals and improved airfield lighting, all while operations continued. It is also deploying faster check-in processes, automated e-passport gates, enhanced security systems and passenger-data analytics. In January 2026, FAAN secured ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications, reflecting what Onabanjo-Kuku described as a commitment to quality management, environmental responsibility and continuous improvement. More than 3,500 FAAN personnel have undergone training and certification through International Civil Aviation Organisation and ACI programmes.

Also speaking, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said the next generation of airports must be built around resilience rather than expansion alone. “The airport of the future cannot simply be a larger terminal building. A next-generation airport must be safe, efficient, financially sustainable, technologically enabled, environmentally responsible and capable of adapting to disruption,” he said.

Keyamo said airports must be prepared for pandemics, geopolitical tensions, economic shocks, climate events, cyber threats and infrastructure failures. “Resilience therefore cannot be an afterthought. It must be designed into our airports, our systems, our business models and our institutions.”

He argued that technology should serve passengers rather than overwhelm them. “Technology is only meaningful when it makes a person’s journey safer, easier, faster and more dignified. We must therefore build smart airports with human hearts.”

The minister said the Federal Government was pursuing reforms to strengthen safety, infrastructure, investment and connectivity, citing Nigeria’s 91.45 per cent Effective Implementation score following the 2026 ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission. He pointed to the rehabilitation and expansion of Terminal 1 at Murtala Muhammed International Airport as an effort to transform a historic gateway into a modern, passenger-centred facility.

“An airport is not simply a place where aircraft land and take off. It is an economic ecosystem. It creates employment, supports tourism and logistics, attracts investment, facilitates trade and connects businesses to markets,” Keyamo said. He added that Nigeria was encouraging greater private-sector participation in airport infrastructure and services while supporting the development of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facilities, aircraft leasing, cargo infrastructure and other parts of the aviation value chain.

The minister also called for stronger intra-African connectivity, arguing that it should not be easier to fly from one African city to a destination outside the continent than to another African city.

Reacting to the passenger figures, industry expert Samuel Caulcrick said domestic airlines were not benefiting from the traffic increase. He argued that growth would mean little if Nigerian carriers remained commercially disadvantaged against foreign competitors. “Without protectionism, Nigerian airlines are not protected against foreign carriers that dominate the market. Both pay the same charges, but foreign carriers have one decisive advantage: lower cost of capital. That is the entire imbalance,” he said.