Nigeria Air To Begin Operations With Three Rented Planes – FG

The federal government has disclosed that Nigeria Air will commence operations with three wet-leased aircraft.

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, disclosed this during a press briefing on Thursday, November 25, in Abuja.

Sirika said: “They will start with wet-leased aircraft and that’s how 90 percent of airlines in the world would have started. So they will start with a wet-lease of three aircraft and then continue to expand, place orders and then get deliveries.”

The minister maintained that the federal government would not manage the carrier, rather investors in the carrier would run the business.

He said: “Nigeria Air would be quoted on the stock exchange and Nigerians would be allowed to buy shares in the airline.  We will release what is called Request for Proposals very soon, I believe next week. And this Request for Proposals will describe what and what we are asking for.

“You will now go and send us a document that you are proposing to partner us and this is what you are giving us. Then we will sit down, evaluate, discuss and choose a strategic partner or partners for this airline.

“So Request for Proposals are going out next week and by the grace of God we will continue to pursue that and people will show up.”

“It will be purchased exactly the way you buy shares in every company. This is because Nigeria Air is a limited liability company for now, registered under the law of the land and structured in a public-private partnership (PPP) manner.

“So you purchase it the same way you purchase shares in any company and later it is our hope that it will be listed and go through IPO (Initial Public Offering) and so on.”

He said that the maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for the carrier and others will begin operating next year in Abuja and that 12,000 hectares of land will be used for the facility. 

“In that 12,000 hectares of land, which all of it is a free zone, there will be the MRO facility, a second runway, new terminal building and various businesses. It is going to be a whole airport city.”

He recalled that the MRO partners had been addressed and that work would start in April 2022 once approved by FEC.