OreMI22:
Did anyone notice that since the progress of this airport became a reality, they quickly revoked the Orient petroleum license to build a modular refinery?

One wonders what their game plans are really about .

AsomughaChuks05:
The way some people are attacking the Chief Willie Obiano International Airport Umueri, it is clear that they are worried about the continued viability of nearby airports which depends a lot on wealthy Anambra customers to survive. Without federal funding, only the airport in Umueri and that in Port Harcourt can survive solely on customer patronage as far as SE/SS is concerned. But a time will come when the federal government will even abandon those airports and hand them back to states as plummeting revenues will cause the financial chokehold on the federal government to become unbearable. That's when neighbouring states will start traveling to Anambra for their International flights.

cjrane:


Exactly! I have not seen one person that said their anger with this airport is because it was not viable. Their argument is typically, but there is an airport in Lagos, there is an airport in Enugu, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Asaba.

Even though Asaba airport belongs to my state, I have lived so many years abroad to understand that the presence of a standard airport in Anambra complements it. For example, La Guardia and Newark airports in USA would have been nothing if there were no JFK. It is a result of insufficient landing slot at JFK that airlines go the La Guardia and Newark as alternative airports for those flying to New York. The same way Sharjah airport in UAE would have been totally unviable without the nearby Dubai airport that they complement each other. Just as Gatwick airport would have been nothing without Heathrow airport.

What happens is that as airports begin to grow, airlines look for nearby cities where they can land and still put their passengers within the vicinity of the market they are accessing. Without having to wait for hours for their passengers to disembark because the 3 luggage claim carousel is too small and the airport officials, airport staff and immigration are too few and cannot handle the previous 500 passengers that landed before them. We know that no airport in Nigeria can handle the volume of passengers when 3 airbus A380 planes land there in a space of 3 hours! Therefore, as the population of Nigeria continues to grow, major airlines begin to access nearby international airports where they can use and still land their passengers close enough to the location they desire. What i have explained here is unfathomable to a typical average Nigerian who has never lived abroad. But it is indeed how airlines choose their routes and what eventually plays out all the time in international civil aviation.

FOXDOSSIER:
Take this to the HSBC, Anambra international airport is gonna be the busiest airport in Nigeria aside Abuja and Lagos. There's no other airport in Nigeria that can match Anambra international airport in traffic flow.

Please take your envy and frustration out of this thread.

[s][/s]

abnot:

My comment was strictly issue based . But you are now personalising things. How can I envy anambra ? Of what benefit is it to me ? Lagos and Abuja are miles ahead of anambra in aviation and that is the fact. It is not my doing . Don’t lash me over it . I’ve never even been to anambra. And for your information third position in Nigeria means nothing as Lagos/Abuja are not even performing as well as airports in Nairobi, Addis Ababa , Cairo & j’burg . We see your type every now and then who get annoyed easily upon hearing the truth

imaxdocuments:
Stop spewing nonsense. You have never even been to Anambra but you are here telling us what you don't know. The person you quoted told you plainly that Anambra stands as the busiest airport in Nigeria outside Lagos and Abuja, but you are still spewing nonsense. Another state that's doing very well in aviation is Rivers state. I think the rating should be thus: Lagos, Abuja, Rivers and Anambra, in that order


[s][/s]

abnot:

I am from rivers state and visit there very often. Aviation is not viable in rivers state. Turkish air, Lufthansa and air France have never been able to fill up their flights from port harcourt . The cargo volume processed is below expectation (right from pre-covid days ) Airlines merge PH passengers with passengers from Abuja. At some point Air France and virgin Atlantic pulled out. Wike went to Addis Ababa with his team promising heaven and earth using this “third busiest” word . Ethiopian downgraded the equipment on that route from 787 to 737. Even that was not a success. I don’t need to be in anambra to know where anambra stands in the midst of Abuja and Lagos. On the political side there are challenges that may come up as aviation is one of the items on FG exclusive list . I can only be cautiously optimistic about the project . That does not mean I hate it as it has no effect or influence on me .

Rocksvibes234:
That was why I said U should ask NCAA boss Nuhu Musa and chairman nass committee on aviation Smart adeyemi also avaiton minister said so on October 2020 when his excellency Paid him a visit, so they are the ones that rated Anambra International Airport best Airport and second busiest airport in Nigeria when completed, go and ask them not me.

Also do you know that not Less than or more than 30% Passengers using Lagos and Abuja international Wing are Anambra indigines, also more than 50% of passengers arriving and departing at Asaba, Enugu, owerri, Lagos and Abuja local Airport wings are Anambra indigines and others heading to Anambra state.
Anambra is the most economic and vibrant busy state in SE and SS regions lemme not talk of other things.

imaxdocuments:
Firstly you are not from Rivers, if not you wouldn't say that aviation is not viable there, because every available stats proves you so wrong.

PH international airport receives about 5 international airlines of which air France is one of them. How did you know that the international airlines have not been able to fill their jets? Were you inside all the planes? Do you have any evidence to prove this? PH international is the 3rd busiest in Nigeria

Stop lying to yourself because you know nothing about aviation.


[s][/s]

abnot:

You spoke my mind. We are all shouting resource control yet if FAAN asks every airport to sustain itself only Abuja and Lagos airports will survive. One of the reasons lagos airport is Wack is because revenue surplus from there is used to finance other unprofitable airports. State governments are just going all over the place building airports and asking for international flights. The minister of aviation has said he has many applications from foreign based airlines to operate into Lagos airport. When he suggests Kano or Enugu to them due to the congestion of Lagos airport they take a step back. In west Africa Lagos airport still generates the highest traffic . Someone told me two years ago that emirates , British airways and Lufthansa were anxiously waiting to operate into Enugu. I’m still waiting

abnot:

You cannot tell me my state of origin when you don’t even know me or my name. You are living in the past. Air France pulled out of PH in March 2019 And as a fly blue member they sent me an email to that effect. If you are interested go and watch the session between Wike’s team and Ethiopian management in Addis Ababa where the chief commercial officer of Ethiopian mentioned that the average load factor on the being 737 from PH is 40%. If Turkish and Lufthansa are able to fill up their planes from port harcourt why do they both stop at Abuja to fill up their seats ? I cannot argue with you further on this . I am not one of those who will see something not doing well and say otherwise because it’s my state of origin. Since you cannot engage on an issue without attacking my person you can continue with others. I

Faithful007:
I'm not against building airports. I'm only arguing against some extravagant claims that I met here. Airports, Seaports do not stimulate economic growth, they only facilitate economic development stimulated by a different factor. Lagos and Abuja are still the only profitable states in Nigeria with a higher standard of living, that's why everything sells, airport sells, real estate sells. Anambra is not doing badly financially, but extrapolations here are badly out of proportion

Faithful007:
Ok, these are what I'll call claims for now. Does LOS and ABV release stats concerning the ethnicity of passengers who transit through the respective airports or is there another place where you can source these figures out?

From my knowledge of the two airports stated earlier, the majority of the traffic generated (let's say about 75%) is local traffic, majority of which is between the two hubs (You can confirm from Flightradar24). The remaining percentage is contested between PHC, KAN, ENU and Owerri. PHC takes a larger percentage. So, I can make a good guess that about 10-15% traffic from Lagos and Abuja heads to Owerri and Enugu.

Now, assuming the upcoming airport cuts down this local traffic by half (Now I don't think this is likely), You have 5-7.5% expected traffic. This is nowhere near the 30% claim you made.

I understand that Anambra is the hub for goods and services into the SE region, but this doesn't translate into a very busy airport, only a little percentage of goods are transported by air freight.

Faithful007:
I'm not against building airports. I'm only arguing against some extravagant claims that I met here. Airports, Seaports do not stimulate economic growth, they only facilitate economic development stimulated by a different factor. Lagos and Abuja are still the only profitable states in Nigeria with a higher standard of living, that's why everything sells, airport sells, real estate sells. Anambra is not doing badly financially, but extrapolations here are badly out of proportion

mktinsight:

It depends on what the airport or seaport is for. The Lagos seaport is what turned Lagos from a fishing village to a major city. The Lagos seaport does billions of dollars in mostly imports. Same goes for Port Harcourt where Onne loads most of the crude exported to the rest of the world. But when you talk airports you talk business and tourism travel. Murtala Muhammed does only 3 million international passengers a year because the scope for trade remains small. Port Harcourt caters to senior oil and gas workers who are not many. Now If you want to see business travellers then New York - London is where you see loads of executives, managers, designers, etc. because New York alone has thousands of companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars with overseas supply chains and offices. I was at a point one of the business travellers who flew London, and Asia routes out of New York.ts why the whole premise of business travel out of Anambra is iffy. Most of the trade movement into Main Market, Drugs Market, Building Materials is basic and is via Apapa. The business traffic via Air is not that significant and is less than 100,000 passengers a year.Anambra should focus on things that build economic growth instead of shortcuts. Power, well organised cities, good schools, good roads and industry. Buying and selling is primitive and one needs to move up the value chain into industry and services.

imaxdocuments:
See them. So in your skewed opinion airport or seaport doesn't stimulate economic growth? Where are these people coming from?


[s][/s]

Faithful007:
I don't get what you intend to achieve by crossing out my previous statement, so I'll just ignore that and go straight to your question.nfrastructure generally is built to satisfy demand and not to generate it's own demand. So in that sense, it facilitates economic growth by some factor but no substantial economic growth on its own. Only industries can do that.Now is there demand for the anambra airport? Maybe. Can it generate comparable traffic to Abuja? Nothing to prove that.
Where am I coming from? From Mars lol

post=100857716:
Folks take your time and read, ignorant mind will not understand the joy in minds
of great Anambarians and Igbos at large, we understand the multiple effects in different sectors in our economy, Anambra state without Airport racked 4th largest economy after Lagos, Rivers and Abuja by GDP, Anambra is third leading in services after Lagos and Rivers in south region, with this airport watchout Anambra in coming years

kindly read below to understand better

Anambra International Airport, Obiano's measure of greatness

WHEN Governor Willie Obiano assumed office as governor of Anambra State, on March 17, 2014, he articulated his vision as: “For the State to become the first choice investment destination and most preferred location to site new industries”.

This lofty vision, he said, should be anchored on four developmental pillars of agriculture, industrialisation, commerce/trade, oil/gas. He also conceptualised 12 enablers for achievement, and one of them is ‘airport’.

In actualising the ‘airport enabler,’ Governor Obiano could be compared to great men of history, one of them being Peter The Great of Russia. He came to the throne of Russia in 1689, and met Russia as an under-developed country, lagging behind England, Holland, Germany, etc.

At that time, it was Sea Power that reigned, and Russia had only one seaport, the Archangel Seaport at White Sea. Peter sought to increase his seaports and so conquered the Turks, and acquired the Azov Seaport in 1695. He arranged for technological transfer from England and Holland, who came and taught his people on ship-building.

He expanded the Azov Seaport to international standard. In 1697, he went to Holland and England and apprenticed himself to ship-building companies, and on return, created flourishing sea-ports, with efficient Navy, for security. Russia then became rich in maritime mercantilism and commercialisation.

When Obiano came to power in 2014, he realised that Anambra State is famous in trade/commerce and industrialization, which are among his development pillars. Onitsha, has the largest markets in Africa. Nnewi is christened as “Japan of Africa,” in manufacturing prowess.

The satellite towns of Onitsha, which are Nkpor, Obosi, Ogidi, among others have large markets. Nkpor has motor spare parts markets, Obosi has electrical markets, Ogidi has building materials markets, the Awka Capital City has educational establishments and flourishing markets, etc.

Obiano knew that airports are now superseding seaports in international transportation of cargo and passengers, and the clients of these sectors are business moguls, captains of industries, erudite academia, eminent scholars, legal luminaries, ingenious scientists, versatile engineers, ubiquitous politicians, wealthy bankers, enterprising traders, resourceful investors, church leaders, Pilgrims to Holy Lands of Jerusalem and Rome, adventurous tourists, international beauty contestants, etc. and these classes of people abound in Onitsha, Nnewi, Ogidi, Awka Capital Territory, Ekwulobia, Aguleri, Umunze, Nkpor, Obosi, etc.

In fact, the proximity of sources of raw materials and channels of distribution of goods form the determinant factors in sitting industries. That was why in 1885, British Government delegated the administration of Southern Provinces to the Royal Niger Company (RNC), and the company sited their headquarters at Asaba, present Delta State Capital. But in 1900, British Government sacked the RNC and took direct administration of Southern Provinces, transferred their headquarters to Onitsha.

Their reason was that the volume of trade was greater from Eastern Side of River Niger, where Onitsha is situated, than in Western Side of River Niger, where Asaba is situated. So, like his historical counterparts of Peter the Great of Russia in 1695, and the British colonisers in 1900, Obiano knew that the 181 communities in Anambra State, famous in all ramifications of human endeavors, have greater need of air transportation.

In addition to these variables, there are discoveries of petroleum in Enugu-Aguleri, gas in Igbariam, all in Anambra East Local Government Area. Eventually, the airport is sited at Umueri, in Anambra East LGA. An added advantage is that petroleum is discovered in Ogwu-Ikpele, Ogwu- Aniocha, Akili-Ogidi, in Ogbaru Local Government Area. So, the astute Governor Obiano took congnisance of these variables, and perfected an ambitious project of an International Airport for passenger and cargo transactions, to serve multiple purposes for optimal benefits to the modern generation. This is because; an Igbo adage says that “Those who have river do not wash hands with spittle.”

The size of the airport is such that it shall have filling stations for petrol, gas and aviation kerosene, so that all classes of transportation on land, air and sea, can come to Umueri to buy their needs in petrol, gas and kerosene, even for industrial and domestic purposes. It shall also have Aviation Technical College, where Anambra youths, can learn all ramifications of aviation industry and its commercialisation, as well as manufacturing and maintenance.

Recently, Captain Musa Nuhu, the Director of Nigeria Airways Authority, and his team inspected the airport at Umueri, and confirmed that it is the second largest airport in Nigeria, only second to Lagos. He certified that facilities in the airport meet international standards in quality and quantity, and so, shall be an asset to Nigeria in aviation sector.

The Committee on Aviation Transportation, of the National Assembly of the Senate and House of Representatives, also performed their “Legislative Oversight Function,” and confirmed that the airport meets the requirements as an International Passenger and Cargo Airport, and qualifies to be granted the “operational license.”

They promised to expedite action in approving the operational license, so that the executive, through the Ministry of Aviation, can give the green light for planes to fly in the airport. Among those in the “legislative visit,” are Senator Smart Adeyemi, Senator (Mrs) UcheEkwunife, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Chinedu Obidigwe, Dozie Nwankwo, Okwudili Ezenwnkwo, etc.

In his comment, Governor Willie Obiano intimated that all the expenditure of building the airport are borne by the state, without any Kobo borrowed from any local nor foreign creditor. So, the income, when accrued, shall belong to the state, hundred percent.

This gigantic project, shall surely boost employment opportunities, both direct and indirect, from service providers, and enormously multiply revenue for the internally generated revenue (IGR), in the state.

Indeed, Governor Willie Obiano, shall take his pride of place in greatness, with Alexander The Great of Greece (336-323 BC), who built the City of Alexaandria in Egypt, as famous city of commerce and industry and also, Peter The Great of Russia (1689-1725 AD) who built modern Russia to compare favorably with America, England, Holland, etc. So, Obiano’s International Passenger/Cargo Airport, at Umueri, Anambra State, and other legacy projects, shall give Obiano a permanent seat in the ‘Hall of Greatness’ world-wide.

IDENNAA:





[s]You have not answered the IGR question. I am still waiting. Daalu[/s]

Rocksvibes234:
Anambra ranked 10th in states IGR 2020, from 26billion in 2019 to 28.01billion in 2020 despite the covid.
We really tried but more efforts has to be putting for us to be generating at least up to or more than 50billion and that will be the multiplier effect of the international Cargo and Passenger airport Umueri, Anambra and international conference center Awka, Anambra

Rocksvibes234:
Anambra ranked 10th in states IGR 2020, from 26billion in 2019 to 28.01billion in 2020 despite the covid.
We really tried but more efforts has to be putting for us to be generating at least up to or more than 50billion and that will be the multiplier effect of the international Cargo and Passenger airport Umueri, Anambra and international conference center Awka, Anambra

imaxdocuments:



Without airport nor seaport, Anambra became the 4th largest economy in Nigeria and top 10 in Nigeria. Now you understand why some evil creatures are bitter, angry and frustrated about the Anambra international airport, they are jittery and scared that Anambra can only compete with only Lagos and Abuja economically and developmentally.

Anambra is truly the light of the entire black race