…to provide comfortable, reliable and affordable travel
For some weeks, it was speculated that Ethiopian Airline has been chosen as strategic investor for the soon to debut Nigeria’s National Carrier, Christened Nigeria Air.
With that speculation though not yet confirmed by government, many concerned stakeholders in the Aviation Industry and other Nigerians alike gave knocks and kudos to that piece of news.
Though the knocks seem to have drowned the applause, the determination of the government had never been dampened by calls in the past when the idea was born as contained in the Nigeria Aviation Development Roadmap that establishing a national carrier was not the best.
Despite the outpour of negative comments that the national carrier would not work and coupled with the choice of Ethiopian Airlines as the strategic investor to own 49% in the Nigeria Air which has got people talking, the government has put its hand on the plough and
moving forward to fulfill the promise made to Nigerians that a National Carrier will be established and that National Carrier will be born.
Like the nine months completion of every child’s birth, that of the Nigeria Air is just few months away and everything preparatory for the safe delivery have been acquired and no hitches are expected along the way.
The formal announcement of Ethiopian Airline as the strategic investor of the Nigeria Air by the Minister of Aviation Senator Hadi Sirika last week has clearly shown that the new airline has come to stay.
The Minister said, due process was followed in the bidding and Ethiopian Airline Consortium got a combined score (Technical and Financial Bid) of 86.7% and the Consortium was declared the Preferred Bidder.
“After a careful, detailed and ICRC governed selection process, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as preferred bidder, offering an owner consortium of 3 Nigerian investors MRS, SAHCO and other institutional investors (46%), FGN owning 5% and ET 49%. The consortium has been subject to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the FGN, leading to a Full Business Case, which will be expected to be
approved Federal Executive Council (FEC). We expect this process to take 6-8 weeks”.
According to him, they aim to finish the Public Private Partnership, PPP process by Mid Nov. 2022.
Sirika stated that, “the timeline to launch Nigeria Air, with the collaborative work of the interim Executive Team under the leadership of CEO Capt. Dapo Olumide, has met all challenges, some unexpected delays and unforeseen circumstances. However, the thorough preparation of the interim Executive Team is making it possible to launch Nigeria Air this year”.
Since February 2022, the Minister said, all hands had been deck by the interim Executive Team of highly skilled Aviation Experts to set up all the necessary regulatory and industry requirements to launch the National Carrier, adding that, the regulatory agency, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA had issued Nigeria Air, its Air Transport License, ATL after having identified the first three aircraft, approved all Executives and is now at the point of finalizing all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through the inspection and approval process.
“All interim Executives were approved by NCAA after individual interviews (Accountable and Post holders/Nominated persons) in May 2022. ATL was awarded to Nigeria Air by NCAA on 6th June 2022”.
“The interim Executive Team has been working since 1 Feb. 2022 on establishing Nigeria Air to prepare the necessary documents and requirements for achieving the Air Transportation License (ATL), Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and launch the operation, before handing it over to the successful PPP bidder consortium”.
On the money spent for the launch of Nigeria Air, Sirika said, “for all the requirements to establish an AOC and be admitted starting an airline operation, is well within the 5% capital investment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, that will be overall needed to establish the National Carrier initially for the AOC approval and everything else required by stringent national aviation regulations, as prescribed in the FEC approved Outline Business Case (OBC)”.
“This OBC is the milestone for the preferred Bidder Consortium and has been met by the submitted business plan of the preferred bidder. It is the overall share capital of around 300 Mio USD, provided by the preferred bidder that will launch Nigeria Air to its full size of 30 aircraft and international operation within the next two years. No further FGN funding will be provided above the 5% share capital of the next national Carrier of Nigeria, which was provided to launch Nigeria Air”.
Ethiopian Airlines is expected to provide according to the agreement three Boeing 737-800 with a 16 Business Class and 150 Economy Class configurations, provide three B737, initial crews and engineers, while NAL is recruiting 737 rated experienced Captains, First Officers and Cabin Crew, as well as aircraft engineers shortly to join Nigeria Air.
The first aircraft is ready to arrive in Abuja for the further work and NCAA inspection, demo flights and audit as part of the AOC requirements. In time, two others will arrive to complete the required three aircraft for a new AOC holder.
ONGOING/COMPLETED PREPARATIONS
1. The interim executive team has prepared, with the support of FAAN, the Terminal C at the Abuja Airport and finalized a contract with MMA 2 terminal in Lagos, for the operation of an initial shuttle between Lagos and Abuja. The bridge in Terminal C still has to be repaired, the costs are calculated.
2. The team has further, together with FAAN, restructured and prepared the Operations Control Center (OCC) at the Abuja Airport, to run the airline out of, and act as Headquarter of the airline.
3. Developed a state-of-the-art Web/App/reservation system was developed by Branchspace/Pribas and will provide a novel (Customer Relationship Management) CRM approach to all the airline customers.
4. Marketing and Media plans for the launch of Nigeria Air have been prepared, several banks have been identified as parties for passenger payments, and with some banks a special marketing agreement around airport support and branded Credit Card has been finalized.
5. The Operation Manuals (OM), required for the AOC, are prepared by the interim Executives and a third-party provider as much as possible, waiting for the decision on the initial – aircraft, as the basis for all OMs. With the decision on B737 the finalization of the OMs will be established.
6. The timeline to launch Nigeria Air, with the collaborative work of the interim Executive Team under the leadership of CEO Capt. Dapo Olumide, has met all challenges, some unexpected delays and unforeseen
circumstances. However, the thorough preparation of the interim Executive Team is making it possible to launch Nigeria Air this year.
CONCLUSION
The National Carrier, Nigeria Air, is well on its way to being launched with 3 Boeing 737-800 in a configuration very suitable for the Nigerian market.
Nigeria Air will launch with a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable and affordable travel between these two major Nigerian Airports. Other domestic destination will follow thereafter.
