Nigeria’s new national carrier to take-off with three planes
Nigeria Air, replacing Nigeria Airways that was liquidated 18 years ago, is to take-off with three planes.
The new national carrier, approved by Federal Executive Council (FEC), will to start operations in April 2022 with the planes under a wet lease from Europe according to Mr Tilmann Gabriel, the transaction adviser to the Nigeria Air.
Nigeria’a aviation minister Hadi Sirika announced on Thursday November 24, 2021 that the FEC approved the take-off of the new airline, after a failed attempt in 2018, to float the national carrier.
Mr Gabriel, a seasoned aviation consultant who has been a part of many start-up airlines across the world, described the lease as the easier and cost-effective way to start an airline.
The veteran flight Captain added that conversations with other lessors in Europe had begun.
“We are taking to leasing companies but at the same time, we are ordering for new aircraft. With the wet lease, the lessor will provide the aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance. This will also reduce the rigor of certifications,” Mr Gabriel said.
Defunct Nigeria Airways
Nigeria is floating Nigeria Air 18 years after Nigeria Airways, the nation’s national carrier, was liquidated due to inefficiency and debt.
FEC, at a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, approved the much-awaited Nigeria Air which the aviation minister Hadi Sirika has been structuring since 2015.
According to the minister, who confirmed that the name and the logo were already approved, majority shares of (49 percent) of the Nigeria Air project will be owned by strategic equity partners, 46 percent by Nigerians while the Federal Government will own five percent.
“The structure of the proposed airline – Federal Government would be owing not more than five per cent. So, five per cent is the maximum equity that government would take,” Mr Sirika said, adding:
“Then, 46 per cent would be owned by Nigerian entrepreneurs. So, if you add that is 51 per cent. So 51 percent majority shareholding is by Nigerians.
“And then, 49 per cent will be held by strategic equity partners or partners will be sourced during the procurement phase, which is the next phase.”
The minister further revealed that the Nigeria Air, when operational, would generate over 70,000 jobs, saying “these 70,000 jobs are higher than the total number of civil servants that we have in the country.”
The defunct Nigeria Airways collapsed leaving 78 planes that have since dilapidated, and a huge debt of more than $528 million (equivalent to $742,810,420 in 2020).
Nigeria Airways, was founded in 1958 after the dissolution of West African Airways Corporation and held the name WAAC Nigeria until 1971, when it was rebranded to the name it had until it ceased operations in 2003. BY DAILY NATION
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