Nigeria Air's takeoff delayed by an inability to purchase aircraft as sectors reels from effects of Covid-19

PLANS to get proposed national carrier Nigeria Air up and running have been hampered by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation industry which has prevented the airline's management from purchasing the required aircraft.

In 2018 at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK, aviation minister Senator Hadi Sirika announced plans to launch the national carrier Nigeria Air in December that year. It was to fly to 80 different destinations and would have had a fleet of 30 aircraft but the project was later scrapped after it was discovered that no budgetary provision had been made for the venture.

Since then, the Nigerian government has been desperately trying revive the project, wooing investors and foreign airlines to take out stakes in the venture. In April this year, former Virgin Nigeria Airways boss Captain Dapo Olumide was named as the interim managing director of Nigeria Air as plans to float the new airline with Qatar Airways as a major stakeholder were announced.

Yesterday, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) presented Nigeria Air with its Air Transport Licence (ATL) in a development that will make the airline a legal entity. Receiving the certificate, Captain Olumide lamented the fact that it is very difficult to get the aircraft at the moment, attributing this to the effects of Covid-19 on the aviation sector globally, among other factors.

He, however, stated that efforts were ongoing to get all the aircraft, as this was a basic requirement by the NCAA before the issuance of another vital certificate. Captain Musa Nuhu, the NCAA director-general, presented the ATL to Nigeria Air yesterday, which he signed, saying it would run for a period of five years from June 3, 2022 to June 2, 2027.

An ATL is issued as authorisation to airlines to provide scheduled and non-scheduled services. It is one of the licences received by airlines before they can commence operations just as they await the all-important Air Operator Certificate that fully guarantees them the right to begin air services.

Captain Olumide added:  “The aircraft are available but there are all sorts of issues because this is summer peak period and as you know, post-Covid, all the aircraft were parked in the desert. The airlines are bringing them out slowly but it takes time to bring an aircraft out of storage.

“Then, there is a further complications as a a lot of flights in Europe are being cancelled or delayed because most people were laid off during the Covid-19 shutdown and they don’t have enough staff in the airports to turn around flights. So there are lots of cancellations going on.

“It is very difficult to get the aircraft but we have discussions going on with original equipment manufacturers and we are just waiting for the right terms of the agreement. We already have the aircraft identified because that is one of the requirements for the NCAA but we are just trying to perfect titles and so on.”