SPATIAL PATTERNS OF DOMESTIC AIR PASSENGER TRAFFIC GENERATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the spatial patterns of domestic air passenger traffic generated by the interacting city-pairs in Nigeria’s air transportation system at five points in time – 2003, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 to establish the spatial and temporal changes that have taken place over time. It also examined the relationships between the populations of the cities and the volumes of domestic air passenger traffic generated by the cities to establish the impact of population on the traffic generating capacity of the cities. The volumes of domestic air passengers handled by each city, the percentage share of total traffic, the populations of the cities, the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and the student’s ‘t’ test were used for the analyses. The study revealed that Lagos was the dominant domestic air passenger traffic generation centre. It established that few centres generated most of the domestic air passenger traffic in Nigeria and that the spatial pattern of traffic generation tended more towards concentration than dispersal. The study also found that there were statistically positive relationships between the populations of the cities and the volumes of traffic generated by the cities. Balanced regional development is recommended, among others, to help redistribute population among the cities in the air transportation system in Nigeria so as to increase their air passenger traffic generating capacity.