Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Muktar Usman says the Nigeria Air project is on course despite that there has not been news from the Federal Government after the unveiling of the logo and name few months ago.
He noted that the talks surrounding the proposed national carrier project by many concerned Nigerians had died down because most Nigerian were beginning to understand and buy into the project.
In a chat with journalists in Lagos at the weekend, Captain Usman said,”the project is ongoing and things that are don’t need to be made public probably is the reason because but the project is ongoing, it will continue until it is delivered to the Nigerian people but it does mean that the project has stopped at all.”
On the role of transaction advisers, Usman said “It is a process, the process is ongoing and it is transparent as people can see, it is to get the best for Nigeria. Nigerians has been yearning for the gaps created by the lack of having strong and viable carrier that would mean the demands and potentials of both the domestic market, the regional market and the International market”.
Assuring that the December take-off date was still feasible, the NCAA DG said that, as far as the regulatory agency is concerned to deliver on the two major certificates, the Air Transport Licence (ATL) and the Aircraft Operators Certificate (AOC), all things being equal is 90 days.
“We still have more than 90 days to the end of the year, so, it is still feasible, all things being equal, am just talking from the regulatory point of view”, Usman said.
During the launch at the Farnborough Air Show in London, United Kingdom, the Minister of State for Aviation, Sirika pledged that “We are all fully committed to fulfilling the campaign promise made by our President, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015. We are aiming to launch Nigeria Air by the end of this year”.
