Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to Process 15 million passengers annually
by Oru Leonard
The Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr Saleh Dunoma said that the terminal building of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport was designed essentially to transport passengers and can process 15 million passengers annually.
Mr Saleh who disclosed that the current carrying capacity of the airport was 7.5 million passengers per annum, said the terminal building would be inaugurated on Dec. 20 to enhance the operational capacity of the airport.
He noted that the inauguration of the new terminal would bring about expansion to the airport and that passengers would begin to enjoy comfort and efficient services as the terminal was built and equipped with modern facilities such as modern check-in, baggage handling and security facilities.
“Currently, Abuja is doing like 7.5 million passengers annually in the old terminal, both domestic and international. It is essentially designed for passengers, it is not the kind of terminal where you have several offices and aviances, it is just designed for passenger purposes and duty offices only”, he said.
He also said that most of the offices are going to remain in the old facility as posts will be provided for the agencies that will participate in the processing of passengers.
“It is a lot of departure from what we had in the existing facility and the arrangement is for the passenger-flow to be more efficient than what we had in the old terminal building,’’ he noted.
The FAAN boss said that there were plans to make sure that the old and new terminals work together to ensure connectivity. The authority will also change its modalities of operations by providing free trolleys and WiFi services for all passengers in the new terminal.
He noted that there had been applications for additional frequencies into Abuja by some airlines.
Mr Dunoma said that authority had decided to delay granting such approvals because of the limited capacity and in order not to create congestion pending when the new facility would become operational.
Recall that the Abuja Airport is one of the four new terminals being constructed at the cost of $600 million by the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC) under the Export-Import Bank of China loan.
The others are in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano and are being financed from the $500 million loan from China-Exim bank and $100 million counterpart funding from the Federal Government.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in October inaugurated the one in Port Harcourt while the remaining two are expected to be opened for operations in 2019.
