An industry source told BusinessDay that government may have jettisoned the plan to partner Ryan Air of Ireland, which it planned to enter into an agreement with, that would make the European carrier the technical partner of the proposed national carrier, “as talks on it seem not to be yielding fruit”.
The new move towards the Middle East, observers say, could be due to the fact that the government had explored all means to partner European carriers to no avail.
“I think because AirFrance, Lufthansa and one other European carrier they approached turned them down, they have to look elsewhere”, the source said.
He explained that an international business tycoon may also have put his money in as a significant investor.
The new carrier, to be known as ‘NigeriaOne’, according to Stella Oduah, aviation minister, is to commence operations before the end of the year.
“Well, I think that everything we need to do for the carrier to take off is in place. We are just waiting for the approval from the Presidency and the Federal Executive Council (FEC), to take-off, so give or take a little, the new national carrier will take off before the end of the third quarter.”
Oduah had also stated that the Federal Government was targeting over $10 billion as revenue from the proposed national carrier, in its long term strategic plan before 2026.
She added that the carrier would be private sector driven, and that government would only provide the legal and other frameworks, and that the former carrier failed, as a result of management problems.
Inspite of the bleak history of airline operations in Nigeria, and the failed Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Nigeria partnerships, the plan to attract foreign investors for the new national carrier has attracted enthusiasm internationally.
This is attributed to the growing air transport market in Nigeria, which one insider said would explode, when effective and consistent competition cuts domestic fares, once the national carrier is launched.
Nigerians are however divided on the plan to float the national carrier.
Very few give the project a chance to succeed, because of past failures. Others were hopeful that the carrier would save the country the huge capital flight that is coming as a result of ineffective reciprocity of international air frequencies, based on the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA).
Sheri Kyari, executive founder, Centre for Aviation Safety and Research (CAS-R), said apart from halting capital flight which had hitherto been the case, since no carrier could compete with international airlines, the new national carrier would provide employment; start a maintenance facility with added advantage of increasing chances of aircraft or components production in Nigeria.
By: Sade Williams.
Culled from Business Day Nigeria.
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