Business  |  Aviation  

FG yet to decide Nigeria Air’s partners, final bidders

By Wole Oyebade |   16 August 2018   |   2:11 am  

Nigeria Air


Federal Government yesterday said technical partners for the new national carrier were yet undecided, as the bidding process, among others, were still ongoing.The disclosure was in response to a report that one of the bidders, Ethiopian Airlines (ET), was in the lead to win the bid.

Deputy Director, Media and Public Affairs, Ministry of State for Aviation, James Odaudu, faulted the claim by the ET’s Chief Executive, Tewolde GebreMariam, that the airline was the favourite to establish and manage the new ‘Nigeria Air’.Odaudu said even if ET had tendered an offer to be partner, it is misleading for the chief executive to claim the lead.

According to him, discussions are ongoing with prospective partners and investors ranging from development finance institutions, airlines and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).He added that the discussions were not limited to the establishment of a national carrier, as there were other components of the Aviation Roadmap that need investors.

“I don’t know about ET or any other prospective investor being favourites or frontrunners to establish and manage Nigeria Air,” Odaudu said. GebreMariam had on Tuesday said ET was in the frontrunner among a small group with an interest in establishing a national carrier in Nigeria.

In this article:

You may also like

Aviation
World airlines record 21.5% passenger traffic demand, surge in patronage
5 Apr
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for February 2024 global passenger demand with total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), up 21.5 per cent compared to February 2023.
Aviation
Cargo transport surges as FG rakes N1.07 billion from rail in Q4 2023
5 Apr
Nigeria generated revenue of N1.07 billion from 672,198 passengers that travelled by rail transport in the fourth quarter of last year.This figure is however a drop of 7.51 per cent in revenue over the N1.15 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter in 2022.
Opinion
Sirika, where is our national carrier?
9 Apr
Nigerian's politicians like many politicians in many countries are always in the pageant of promises, false promises to be exact. These promises often constitute the core of their election propaganda. For them electoral promises are like a pencil and eraser affair, you write it with a pencil and you erase it with an eraser.