by The Minister for Aviation Hadi Sirika, said the proposed National Carrier would commence operation by December this Year.
He stated this during a meeting convened by the Senate Committee on Aviation, with all Stakeholders in the industry, in Abuja.
He explained that there is no reneging on the Federal Government’s partnership with Ethiopian Airlines.
The Minister said the essence of having a national carrier was to improve services and make the industry affordable to all and sundry.
“The government has done extremely well for the local airlines and we have said any of them cannot be a national carrier”.
He said, “We have met severally with the airline operators and pleaded with them to invest in the project. This is because the Federal Government would have a minimum shareholding in it.
“The intent is not to kill any business. The intent is to help to promote all businesses to be able to provide the needed service and employ our people.
“Also, if everyone of them is doing very well without any favouritism, then it means that the competition will be healthy and will bring down the price of tickets and increase the propensity to fly and make more people to fly and then make more money for the airlines and give more service to the country Nigeria.
Senator Hadi Sirika emphasized that when established Nigerians will benefit from the robust market of over 200 million people.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee, on Aviation Biodun Olujunmi, earlier said the essence of the meeting was for the Minister to give clearance on the concerns raised by members of the Airlines Operators of Nigeria.
According to her, the Airline operators wanted to know how the partnership would hamper the businesses of patriotic Nigerians who had invested in the Aviation sector.
She said, “Some Nigerians had invested their hard earned funds in Aviation and they felt that they would lose out completely if the Nigerian Government decided to partner the Ethiopian Airlines with mouth watering incentives.”
Meanwhile the Vice President, AON, and the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, alleged that the entrance of Ethiopian Airline is to the detriment of the local operators
He appealed to the Federal Government to give attention to local Airlines who are equipped to fly international routes.
“Already, Ethiopian Airlines is asking for a 15 – year tax holiday when no Nigerian carrier has been given one year tax holiday. We could do better than what we are doing if we have such an incentive.
“There are multiplicity of taxes and levies we are battling with in the industry that is crippling our operations and forcing the air fare to be skyrocketing on daily basis.”
The operators also explained that they had grown the industry from eight million passengers to 20 million, having one of the highest post-covid recovery growth in the World.
The AON insisted that there is nothing the Ethiopian Airlines was doing that the local airlines could not do. We do not want the partnership to be known as National Carrier because it connotes ownership.
“A strategic partner cannot be a competitor on the continent. Domestic airlines should be allowed to grow to develop.
Source: radionigeria
