By ZAINAB JUNAID
Amidst all odds projected by some key players in the aviation industry against the Federal Government for choosing Ethiopian Airline as the preferred Technical Partner of Nigeria Air, the proposed national carrier has been confirmed by the Minister of Aviation to be on its way for launch with a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos.
Speaking through a statement made available over the weekend, spokesman for the Aviation Minister, Dr. James Odaudu said the carrier would launch a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable and affordable travel between these two major Nigerian Airports, while other domestic destination would follow thereafter.
Odaudu said Nigerian Air would be launched with three Boeing 737-800 in a configuration very suitable for the Nigerian market.
He also disclosed that the Request for Proposal (RFP) under the PPP act, governed by ICRC, is completed, hinting that after a careful, detailed, and ICRC-governed selection process, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder, offering an owner consortium of three Nigerian investors, MRS, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc and the Nigerian Sovereign Fund (46%), FGN owning 5% and ET 49%.
The consortium, Odaudu stated has been subject to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the Federal Government leading to a Full Business Case, which he noted would be expected to be approved Federal Executive Council (FEC).
According to him, the process would take between six and eight weeks.
He reiterated that an interim executive team of highly skilled aviation experts had been working since February 2022 to set up all the necessary regulatory and industry requirements to launch the national carrier.
His words, “All executives have been approved by Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, the Air Transport License has been issued by NCAA, Nigeria Air (after having identified the first three aircraft) will now finalize all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through the inspection and approval process of NCAA.”
“The money spent for the launch of Nigeria Air, for all the requirements to establish an AOC and be admitted starting an airline operation, is well within the 5% capital investment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, that will be overall needed to establish the national carrier initially for the AOC approval and everything else required by stringent national aviation regulations, as prescribed in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved Outline Business Case (OBC).
“This OBC is the milestone for the preferred Bidder Consortium and has been met by the submitted business plan of the preferred bidder. It is the overall share capital of around 300 Mio USD, provided by the preferred bidder that will launch Nigeria Air to its full size of 30 aircraft and international operation within the next two years. No further FGN funding will be provided above the 5% share capital of the next national Carrier of Nigeria, which was provided to launch Nigeria Air”, he said.
