The easing of travel restrictions caused by the COVID19 pandemic and rise in economic activities during the year pushed a rebound in the aviation industry in the first nine months of this year, a new report has revealed.
Airline operators and other allies businesses contributed the most to aviation sector.
Between January and September 2021, output in the aviation industry jumped to N146.6bn, from N114.2bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.
This marks a rise of N32.2bn in the sector’s contribution to the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product during the period under review.
The National Bureau of Statistics states that the aviation or air transport is among the sub-sectors under the transport and storage sector.
Road transport, rail transport, water transport, transport services and post and courier services make up the rest five.
Under the review period, transport and storage sector contribution to the GDP reached N2.4tn which was driven by the economic performance of road transportation (N2.2tn), air transport (N146.6bn) and transport services (N62.4bn).
According to the report, in Q1, the aviation sector’s output surged to N53.8bn from N51.3bn recorded in Q1 2020 and in Q2, the industry’s contribution to the GDP hit N26.5bn, above the N21.3bn recorded in the corresponding period of the 2020.
The transport and storage industry rose by 41.61 per cent, year on year, in nominal terms in Q3.
This rate was relatively higher than the figure of -35.06 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020 but lower than the 112.56 per cent in the previous quarter.
However, all the six sub-activities under transport and storage industry recorded positive growth rates in the third quarter 2021.
In Q3, transport activities contributed 1.57 per cent to nominal GDP in, an increase from the 1.28 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2020, but lower than 2.09 per cent recorded in Q2.
In real terms, the sector grew by 20.61 per cent in Q3 2021, which represents an increase of 63.59 per cent relative to the same quarter of the previous year and a decrease of 56.20 per cent relative to the preceding quarter.
The contribution of the sector to real GDP in the Q3 2021 totaled 0.20 per cent, a rise from 0.18 per cent recorded in the previous year, and higher than the 0.13 per cent recorded in the Q2.
Meanwhile, the contribution of air transport to the GDP in Q3 surged to N66.3bn from N41.8bn recorded in Q3 2020.
Speaking on the development, an economist and a professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sheriffdeen Tella, attributed the recovery in the sector to the removal of travel restrictions that hindered air travel in the previous year.
He said, “Thanks to the lifting of travel bans, people have been able to move around more this year, as governments around the world roll out vaccinations for the COVID19 virus.”
“The increase in output can also be linked to the worldwide improvement in production, because now, unlike last year when COVID19 was ravaging the world, there is demand for some of the products we export including oil, so the increase in economic activities spurred increased production and export which drove improved output in the sector.”
He stated that while the growth in the sector was encouraging, it was less than desired, stressing the need for the government to implement policies and create an environment that would drive meaningful growth that could contribute significantly to the country’s GDP.
