The newly opened Anambra Cargo Airport has, in one month of being in operation, recorded 142 flights with 3,865 passengers landing and taking off.
The facility was opened for commercial services on December 7 last year
The Commissioner for Works, Mr. Marcel Ifejiofor, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Umueri, near Awka, where the airport is located.
He noted that although the flight and passenger figures surpassed projections, beating its contemporaries in terms of activities. It would have been more, he said, if more airlines were using the airport.
So far, only Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines are landing and taking off at the facility.
Ifejiofor, who doubles as head of the Anambra State Airport Project Committee, said the airport contributed significantly to easing passenger traffic during the Yuletide.
He said passengers who would have landed at Asaba and Enugu Airports flew straight into the Anambra airport.
“Anambra Airport is a hub; there is no place you can’t go to in Nigeria from Anambra State. We are just scratching the surface in terms of activities that will take place here.”
The Managing Director of the Anambra Airport Management Authority, Also speaking, Mr. Martin Nwafor, said the service quality at the airport has continued to improve.
Nwafor said all the regulatory agencies in the aviation sector, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, among others, are now domiciled at the airport.
He said there has not been any issue since the opening of the airport, adding that the airport management is prepared to handle issues as they arise.
Nwafor said workers deployed to the airport are trained, adding that they have been given sufficient orientation on how to do their jobs.
– NAN