The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has released a report showing 48,683 luggage belonging to passengers were either missing or delayed on arrival in Nigerian airport from January to December 2022.
The information is contained in the executive summary on international and domestic flight operations published by the regulatory agency.
It said the missing or delayed baggage involved both the international and domestic carriers.
According to the report, international airlines accounted for 48,234 missing or delayed luggage while the domestic airlines recorded had 449 cases during the period in review.
The statistics further showed that 41,435 of the missing or delayed luggage were later found, while the remaining 7,248 could not be traced.
While international carriers accounted for the 7,248 missing luggage, the 449 recorded for the domestic carriers were recovered.
It was also reported that 877 flight cancellations were recorded among the 16 international and 11 domestic carriers during the period.
While the international airlines accounted for 82 of the cancellations, the local carriers had a total of 795 cancellations during the period.
Also, the statistics revealed that 93,331 flights were operated among 37 airlines, both local and international in 2022.
The breakdown showed that 80,328 flights were operated by 11 domestic airlines, while 13,008 were operated by 26 international airlines during the period.
The 37 airlines (local and international) had a total number of 51,772 flight delays in 2022.
Out of this number, domestic airlines had 47,144 delays, while international airlines recorded 4,628 delays.
Besides, the airlines recorded a total of 16,173,361 inbound and outbound passengers during the period.
While the international airlines ferried 3,503,722 passengers, the domestic airlines had 12,669,639 passengers.
A further breakdown of the statistics showed 1,648,255 and 1,855,467 inbound and outbound international passengers respectively.
For the domestic scene, Nigeria recorded 6,309,662 passengers and 6,359,977 outbound
The passenger figure showed a 13 per cent increase in the 2021 figure of 14.2 million and the highest number of passengers to be recorded in the sector after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the figure is 9 per cent down from the pre-COVID passenger figure of 17.5 million.
For the complaints received during the period, the report stated that 188 complaints were received against the domestic airlines with 135 resolved while 178 were brought against foreign airlines with 123 resolved.
