PH Airport Witnesses Increased Passenger Traffic

Commercial and flight activities at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa reached a peak early this week as domestic and international airlines witnessed increased passenger traffic, due to the yuletide.

At the booking offices of the various airlines operating at the airport, there were long queues of passengers struggling to secure boarding pass or flight tickets.

Also at the terminals, there were long queues of passengers seeking to secure seats.

This upsurge in passenger traffic at the Port Harcourt International Airport caused a marginal increase in air fares that flights that used to charge N18, 500 collected more than N22, 000.

In an effort to help ease the shortage of aircraft, Air Nigeria Airline that operated one Port Harcourt  Lagos flight provided additional one for Port-Harcourt Abuja route early this week.

A leading carrier, Arik Airline, which flagged off flights from the airport is already recording appreciable passenger load factor but it is bedeviled by frequent delays that bring about untold difficulty and stress to passengers, who have expressed deep disappointment by the airline.

Aero Contractors as one of the pilot carriers is making appreciable efforts in their operations as they ply Port Harcourt-Lagos and Port Harcourt-Abuja routes constantly while DANA Air and IRS Airlines have for long disappeared from Port Harcourt International Airport.

Apart from competitive fares and problem of increase in passenger traffic, passengers are experiencing their luggage not checked in as they board thereby cause them to spend extra time on arrival waiting for the arrivals of their luggage, a situation the affected passengers condemn in totality.

A Port Harcourt based businessman and a passenger, Prince Pat Wosu, when interviewed observed that the operations of the airlines are not quite encouraging and called for improvement.

Shedie Okpara