Nigeria Air: A Launch or a Hoax? How the Aircraft Disappeared After the Ceremony

Last Friday, the former Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, unveiled an aircraft with Nigeria Air livery at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The event was meant to be the launch of the national carrier that was part of President Bola Tinubu’s aviation roadmap.

However, a week after the unveiling, the aircraft is nowhere to be found and the airline is yet to fly.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the aircraft was actually a property of Ethiopian Airlines and it has returned to its service.

A check on the flight radar showed that the aircraft – a Boeing 737-860 – operated by Ethiopian Airlines as ET-APL resumed its normal operations on May 31st 2023; four days after it was displayed in Abuja with Nigeria Air logo.

The aircraft must have been on ground for four days to undergo the necessary repainting and checks prior to returning it to service after the Friday’s reception which was also welcome with a ceremonial water salute by officials of the Aerodrome Rescue and Fire-fighting Service unit of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The unveiling was the last major engagement carried out by the former minister before his exit and it was to him a fulfilment and a delivery of the core component of Muhammadu Buhari’s aviation roadmap.

But did Nigeria Air actually launch?

Many Nigerians have been asking for the website of the new airline for flight bookings which is presently non-existent. But more importantly, they want to know what has become of the aircraft that was unveiled with so much fanfare.

According to aviation experts, the aircraft that was used for the static display in Abuja on Friday was not the first flight of Nigeria Air into Abuja. This is because Nigeria Air has not commenced flight operations as required by law. Nigeria Air has not been issued with an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which is the legal authority for the issuance of such certificates and as such, cannot conduct flight operations.

The process of acquiring an AOC involves five rigorous stages that Nigeria Air has barely proceeded from stage one. The NCAA denied the airline further steps in the process of its AOC for failure to adhere to the step-by-step process.

The failure to follow the process was made known to the Nigeria Air Managing Director in a letter signed by Capt. O.O Lawani for the Director General Civil Aviation, DGCA.

The letter tagged, “Re: Request to Proceed to Phase Two of AOC Certification” with reference number NCAA/DOLTS//GEEN/Vol. III/16123 was dated June 2, 2023.

The letter read: “The authority is in receipt of your letter dated 25th May 2023 on the above matter.”

“Quite contrary to our earlier letter of 16th May 2023 which enumerated the documents to be submitted with Formal Application Form OPS 002, your letter of request to proceed to phase two has no inclusion of a Formal Application Form, the necessary documents referenced in the Formal Application Form. Hence, the certification process cannot progress to Phase Two without these required documents,”

With this letter, it is clear that Nigeria Air has not met the requirements for obtaining an AOC and therefore cannot operate as an airline.

Trouble however started when the former minister unveiled the shareholding structure of Nigeria Air, showing that Ethiopian Airlines – the biggest airline in Africa – would have a controlling share of 49 percent. ET also demanded to appoint a Managing Director and some key management positions in the start-up carrier. But this arrangement was challenged by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) representing domestic airlines who took the Federal Government to court over it. They argued that it was designed to give Nigeria Air an advantage over other domestic airlines and also open up the domestic market to Ethiopian Airlines.

The case was still in court when the launch came up penultimate Friday which is currently generating ripples in the industry and raising more questions about what transpired.

Speaking with our correspondent, an aviation analyst, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, said there was no clear intention of setting up a national carrier by the former minister. He said what he was trying to do was to set up a private airline disguised as a national carrier because he said that the federal government would hold only five percent.

He said: “It is very clear that he had no clear intention of setting up a national carrier. What he was trying to do was to set up a private airline disguised as a national carrier because he was saying that the federal government would hold only five percent, then of course that cannot be a national carrier. And then all the questions we asked about institutional investors and all the people who supposedly own 46 percent were not answered. So, we actually have a lot of issues with that and that is why the AON decided to go to court to get clarifications. As it is now, we may have been proven right.”

AON later issued a statement hailing the NCAA for not succumbing to pressure to issue AOC for the airline. According to the AON, the aircraft that was used for the static display in Abuja on Friday was not the first flight of Nigeria Air into Abuja.

“This is because Nigeria Air has not commenced flight operations as required by law. Nigeria Air has not been issued with an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which is the legal authority for the issuance of such certificates and as such, cannot conduct flight operations. Further to that, the aircraft is an Ethiopian Airline property that, even during the static display in Abuja, operated with an Ethiopian registration number as ET-APL. A further check at Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) will show that the flight entered Nigeria as an ET flight.”

Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, AON spokesperson, said, “It is capable of causing Nigeria to be blacklisted by aviation safety agencies like the US FAA and the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency).

“Further implications include that airlines of those countries will not come into Nigeria, and Nigerian airlines will not be allowed to operate into those countries. It also means that Nigeria will definitely fail the upcoming ICAO audit and, by way of further penalty, lose its FAA CAT-1 Certification. Nigerian airlines will also not be able to lease aircraft to boost their operations because no lessor will trust the safety certification process of the NCAA.”

Aviation experts say the return of the aircraft to Addis was an indication that no launching was done and are calling for enquiries about what transpired.

Principal Partner, Avaero Capital, Sindy Foster, said the launch on Friday “was more a theatrical performance than the launch or kick off of any airline.”

Our correspondent had reached out to the Head of Press and Public Affairs in the Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Odatayo Oluseyi, on the status of the aircraft without a response as of press time.

However, the House of Representatives through its Aviation Committee had summoned the Permanent Secretary in the ministry to a session which was to hold on Thursday June 1 but the session did not hold because it was learnt that the Permanent Secretary wrote back to the House of Representatives that it needed more time to gather all the information being requested. The meeting was rescheduled for next Monday, the same week the 9th Assembly would come to an end and a new one inaugurated.

Will the session unravel the mystery behind the launch? Why was the aircraft returned to ET? Has ET backed out as the core investor/technical partner? These and many more questions are what either the National Assembly or the new government would unravel. At the moment, Nigeria Air is still in limbo!

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