Despite litigation seeking to stop Nigeria Air, the Federal Government has assured that the airline will commence operations before the end of the first quarter (Q1) this year.

The government said contrary to claims that the airline was taken to court by Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), it said only five airlines took it to court.

The airlines according to it, are Air Peace, Max Air, United Nigeria Airlines, Topbrass Aviation, and Azman Air.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika disclosed this in an interview posted on YouTube on February 2, by AeroTime.

On the fate of the proposed national carrier; Nigeria Air, the minister said: “Nigeria Air will launch shortly. There is a process to having an airline and that process is driven by Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) the process comes in different phases for those processes to happen.

“Being a PPP, it has to go through Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) by establishing a consulting firm, and transaction advisers to make a business case and to know if it is a viable project and that has been done. It took two years and the Outline Business Case was produced and approved by ICRC and then taken to the Federal Executive Council which was also approved.

“Before now, we went to the public to invite bidders which is a procurement process. The process ended up having Ethiopian Airline as the partner with 49 per cent, 5 per cent for the government of Nigeria, and 46 per cent for Nigerian entrepreneurs and companies coming together to own the rest.

“They have applied for Air Transport Licence (ATL) which is being issued and now they are applying for AOC and the process has gone very far.

“I believe in the next one or two weeks from today, they should be able to get the AOC issued and that will signal the beginning of the carrier itself being flying but we have been working for the past six years to establish it and we took this long because we wanted to be very diligent.

“So, I think the airline is on its way coming and it will be soon. It will be launched within this quarter and it will be flying within this quarter and it will give Nigerians the service that has been eluding it," he said.

On the litigation, he said: “It is not the Airline Operators of Nigeria that went to court, it is Air Peace, Max Air, Azman, Topbrass, and United Nigeria. Interestingly, United Nigeria started business during my tenure as a minister and I was in charge of them becoming an airline and we did not stop them from coming.

“During my time as minister, almost a dozen of airlines started and nobody stopped them. All of them; United Nigeria, Topbrass who doesn’t have an airplane, Max Air, and Azman can go outside and get investors," he explained.

Sirika continued: “The problem of airlines in Nigeria includes governance where you have a one-man show running an airline; there may be nothing wrong if it is done very well, lack of capital and the know-how.

“So, I think Nigerian airlines should try to copy what Nigeria Air is trying to do by bringing in an investor. It is all about the service.

“I think those that are in court which is not a big deal to deal with should know that they have the same opportunity to bring in investors into their airline.

“So, I wish by next month, Airpeace, United, and Topbrass should go somewhere else and bring in another airline to come and partner with them," he emphasised.

On the markets that the airline hopes to explore, he said: “With the OBC, the airline should break even within the next three years and then start doing domestic and international flights.

“The UAE, Abu Dhabi, the London market; Heathrow, JFK, and the rest of USA. Nigeria has a partnership with the USA which means you can land many times and as many times, China, Singapore; all these are routes Nigeria Air is looking at and it will happen so quickly," he added. (The Nation)

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