The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says the proposed national carrier will receive its Air Operating Certificate in two weeks time.
A report by AeroTime quoted the minister as saying the national carrier represents an opportunity for the country’s aviation sector and Africa in general.
He said, “Well, Nigeria Air will launch shortly. There is a process to establishing an airline and that process is driven by the CAA of Nigeria, which is the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and it comes in phases: phases one, two, three, four, and five. Those processes must happen. But before those processes will happen, because it is a private-public partnership, it must go through the Infrastructure, Concession Regulatory Commission, starting by establishing a consultancy firm transaction advisor to make a business case and to see whether it is a viable bankable project. And that has been done. It took, of course, about two years to do.
“So, you must study the market in at least two cycles. That happened, the outline business case was produced, which looked very good, and it was approved by the ICRC. Then it was taken to the Federal Executive Council, [where it was] also approved. And then, before now, we went to [the] public to invite for tenders for bidders, which is the procurement process.
