The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika has revealed today (Wednesday) in a briefing at the State House noting the Federal Government is on a course in providing a national carrier to the country. The Minister noted that the new national carrier which is meant to commence operation by the first quarter of 2022 is long overdue, and expected to be a viable airline with a potential poised to cater to millions of travelers in Nigeria and Africa with possible cheaper rates.
Hadi Sirika discloses that the establishment of the National Carrier previously slated for the end of 2021 was forcefully postponed due to the negative effect of COVID-19 in civil aviation.
The Minister quotes, “It is still on top gear; we are coming back to the council; hopefully in the next two weeks to present the memo on the national carrier. We went to the council to approve the outline business case for the carrier; then, the council raised some questions and asked us to go and look at the memo again and bring it back.
“So, once it comes back and the outline business case is approved by council, we will go to the full business case which is now going to the market and establishing the national carrier.
“It is our intention to have the national carrier running in 2021, which is this year; unfortunately, due to COVID-19, which took the greater part of last year, since March last year, activities have almost been impossible.”
“Finally, to just say that Nigeria is the best candidate to have an airline; 200 million people that travel sometimes almost for nothing, sitting within the West African Region, 400million people; contiguous to Central Africa, 600 million.
