The federal government unveiled Nigeria Air, the national carrier,
on Friday in the country’s capital city.
The unveiling ceremony was held
at the airline’s operation centre situated in the Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport (NAIA), Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Hadi
Sirika, the minister of aviation, said the partnership with the Ethiopian
Airlines (ET) consortium, the preferred
bidder for Nigeria Air, will connect the market of both countries.
Sirika said a demonstration
flight would commence soon as part of the procedure to commence operations
fully.
“This is one infrastructure that
has been missing in general aviation in dynamics of the country; the airline
that is equal to the size of dynamics of the market in Nigeria for its
geography and fortune. Indeed, we do need the kind of infrastructure that we
are having today in the name of Nigeria Air limited,” he said.
“This Nigeria Air Limited is
obviously an entity known to Nigerian laws and the partnership between
entrepreneurs in Nigeria and entrepreneurs in the Ethiopia Airline consortium.
“The consortium is a company
belonging to many partners and it is a very long journey that we started in
2016 and ended up today.
“There were challenges but we did not allow
them to make us lose focus and today we are here. We pray that it will be good
for our country, its people, its future, and humanity.”
Speaking on when the flight
operations will commence, Sirika said in the process of establishing an
airline, “there are conditions set by the regulator which is the NCAA”.
“So, this airplane will be here
and we will commence the demonstration flight to show that we can do it. It is
normally around 0-40 hours but it can be less. It can be five or even two hours
and this is to ensure that we are able and have the capacity to do it,” he
said.
“So, I know the NCAA will give
clean bills to start to fly. So, this is part of the process and it is the
beginning of the establishment of the airline.”
The minister added that more
aircraft are expected to arrive until the airline reaches the 35-aircraft mark
in the next five years.
“It is envisaged that it will hit
the 35 aircraft mark but you do not come in one day to dump the airplanes and
you don’t come in one day and start going to London. It is a gradual process
and the aircraft will be coming one after another until the five years that we
reach the 35 aircraft mark,” he said.
“This is a private sector-led
airline with only five percent and there is no stopping right by the
government. So, Nigerians are welcome and I am sure the five percent will go to
the public for sale at some point.
He added that the airline will
begin with local flights, saying “it is a Boeing 737 capacity aircraft”.
NIGERIA AIR — THE GENESIS
In 2018, under the current
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Sirika unveiled the name and logo of the
new national carrier.
The minister had said the airline
will have flights on 81 domestic, regional, and international routes.
Sirika, in November 2021, said
Nigeria Air would commence
operations with three wet-leased aircraft.
A wet-lease is an arrangement
covering the hire of an aircraft, including the provision of a flight crew and
sometimes fuel.
Although the commencement of the
airline’s operation had missed the
deadline several times, Sirika recently reiterated that the national
carrier would fly before May 29.
Meanwhile, domestic aviation
firms, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), had opposed the
floating of the airline, saying a
federal high court in Lagos had restrained the
government’s actions.
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