FG unveils national carrier name, logo next week in London
- Nigeria's federal government will be unveiling the name of the nation's carrier name and logo in London
- As it statnds, the FG has received the Outline Business Case (OBC) of compliance certificate from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC)
- According to minister of state aviation, Sen Hadi Sirika, the new airline will commence operation on December 19, 2018 with five aircraft, to gradually grow capacity to 30 aircraft in five years
The federal government has revealed that a national carrier for the country will soon be named. The FG disclosed this after receiving the Outline Business Case (OBC) of compliance certificate from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
Minister of state Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika,who received the OBC certificate from the ICRC assured Nigerians that the process towards procuring the national carrier would be transparent and the airline will be profitable in the first three years in operation, Daily Trust reports.
According to him, the new airline will commence operation on December 19 with five aircraft, to gradually grow capacity to 30 aircraft in five years.
“The government will step in to cover the viability gap funding, and thereafter, it will ease out. But even with the gap funding, the government will never get involved in the management of the national carrier.
“All things being equal, on December 19, we will have the first set of airplanes flying this airline. It will make profit in three years after operations. We will make the investments and follow the business plan through private sector management,” Sirika said.
Going further, he spoke on the investment plan and success projection for the airline.
“We will unveil the name, logo, colour scheme, the structure, the type of airplane and everything about the national carrier at the Farnborough International Public Airshow coming 18th of July, 2018 in London. We will also place the order of the aircraft at the event.
“This airline will take advantage of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) we have with over 70 countries. It will also take advantage of the Africa Single Air Transport Market. It will be the best player if we get it right. If we don’t, it will become a threat to us. I believe we are on the right track,” the minister explained further.
He added that: “The new national carrier won’t be like others in the past. We have made it clear in our certificate that the national carrier will have a strategic world class equity partner who will manage, operate and make the management operations.
“We’ve also made it clear in our certificate that there will be no contribution of government to the decisions of the company.
“The management will have the clear hand to run it as bankable business with zero government management control. If these conditions are violated, we invalidate the certificate and the process."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration set up a committee and appointed six advisers to help with the set up of national airlines and develop aviation infrastructure.
Legit.ng gathered that the minister of state for aviation, Hadi Sirika, made the announcement after the Federal Executive Council meeting on May 3.
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Source: Legit.ng
