The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, through its Directorate of Cargo Development and Services, has launched a major strategic initiative aimed at completely revitalizing and expanding the nation’s domestic air cargo operations. During a high-level engagement held with domestic airlines, ground handlers, and key aviation stakeholders, the authority unveiled a comprehensive domestic route development framework. This strategic initiative is designed to drastically enhance cargo connectivity across Nigerian states, reduce post-harvest agricultural losses, and unlock the multi-billion naira economic potential of the country’s agricultural value chain through improved air freight logistics. Opening the high-level session, the Director of Cargo Development and Services, DCDS, Mr. Lekan Thomas emphasized that the directorate was specifically established to drive, improve, and develop domestic air cargo operations. He pointed out that while international cargo relies heavily on national policies and Bilateral Air Services Agreements, the domestic segment requires a highly tailored approach that directly involves Nigerian airlines and logistics agents. The authority stressed the critical importance of aligning stakeholders on existing operational issues, data requirements, and infrastructure gaps. Addressing the growing trend of state governments wanting to build cargo airports, the directorate noted that such initiatives must be backed by concrete data, including specific agribusiness types, cargo volumes, and passenger traffic metrics, to ensure their long-term viability and sustainability. A detailed presentation by the General Manager of Cargo Development, Mrs. Rekiya Also, stressed that domestic air cargo serves as a vital strategic enabler for macroeconomic growth and industrial development. The new initiative directly aims to enhance national food security by mitigating the heavy spoilage risks currently associated with road transportation, where bulk produce frequently deteriorates during long-haul trucking. By introducing speed into the agricultural supply chain, the authority intends to connect internal Nigerian states via robust air cargo networks, thereby creating jobs and boosting revenue across the entire cargo value chain. During the deliberations, stakeholders identified several critical constraints currently stifling the growth of domestic air freight. Industry representatives, including those from Arik Air, highlighted challenges such as a lack of information dissemination, inadequate cold chain storage facilities, the absence of fuel depots at some regional airports, and limited cargo capacity in the aircraft currently operating within Nigeria. A further analysis of the sector revealed three systemic challenges: a severe cargo imbalance where domestic airlines prioritize passenger traffic and leave aircraft bellies underutilized, fragmented demand across regional production clusters in the North and South that lack central coordination, and weak stakeholder coordination among freight forwarders to consolidate cargo volumes. To aggressively tackle these bottlenecks, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria proposed a targeted four-pillar strategic framework. This blueprint focuses on cargo demand mapping to identify the exact locations and figures of cargo across the country, encouraging cargo aggregation among freight forwarders, assisting airlines in identifying commercially viable cargo corridors, and providing critical infrastructure support. The infrastructure drive includes building modern warehouses in Abuja and Kano, alongside entering Public-Private Partnerships to manage terminals efficiently. Identifying immediate priorities, the authority pointed to Abuja and Kano as high-traffic hubs where existing data supports immediate operational and infrastructure upgrades, while Jos was highlighted as a high-volume agricultural cargo source where domestic uptake remains low despite strong state political will. Moving forward, the authority stated it views airlines and ground handlers as co-investors rather than mere operators. Immediate next steps will focus on capacity transparency to identify routes suffering from low passenger-belly utilization, alongside the alignment of regulatory waivers, operational rebates, and ground handling support structures to make cargo lifting highly profitable for domestic airlines.
