The Nigerian government is in the advanced stage of launching the National Carrier, Nigeria Air, with three Boeing 737-800 in a configuration very suitable for the Nigerian market.
According to Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika in a press briefing on Friday, Nigeria Air will launch a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable and affordable travel between the two major Nigerian Airports, while other domestic destinations will follow thereafter.
He said with the collaborative work of the interim Executive Team under the leadership of CEO Capt. Dapo Olumide.
“Having met all challenges, some unexpected delays, and unforeseen circumstances. However, the thorough preparation of the interim executive team is making it possible to launch Nigeria Air this year.”
Bidding Process
Recall that a bidders’ conference was held online on 28th March, 2022 with over 100 participants and over 60 parties requested access to the dataroom.
According to a statement, the Request for Proposal (RFP) under the PPP act, governed by ICRC, is completed.
“After a careful, detailed and ICRC governed selection process, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as preferred bidder, offering an owner consortium of 3 Nigerian investors MRS, SAHCO and the Nigerian Sovereign Fund (46%), FGN owning 5% and ET 49%.
He said the consortium has been subject to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the FGN, leading to a Full Business Case, which will be expected to be approved Federal Executive Council (FEC).
“We expect this process to take 6-8 weeks. An interim executive team of highly skilled aviation experts has been working since FEB 2022 to set up all the necessary regulatory and industry requirements to launch the National Carrier.
“All executives have been approved by 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.”
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