Nigeria to Launch a National Carrier that it Hopes will Adequately Serve West Africa
With the airline being a campaign pledge for the country’s current President Muhammadu Buhari years ago, and Nigerians having to wait for its launch since 2018, the ICRC director believes that Nigeria Air will begin operations before the presidential administration ends, with elections scheduled for February 2023.
While Nigeria has frequently postponed the debut of the much anticipated flag carrier, Nigeria Air, the country’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) office has said it is finalizing the launch dates planned for 2023.
This is after the country’s office of the president officially agreed to extended the deadline, which was slated to be in April 2022.
New Flag Carrier
According to ICRC Director General Michael Ohiani, the Nigerian government has begun talks with Airbus and Boeing to purchase the first three narrow-body planes for Nigeria Air.
With the airline being a campaign pledge for the country’s current President Muhammadu Buhari years ago, and Nigerians having to wait for its launch since 2018, the ICRC director believes that Nigeria Air will begin operations before the presidential administration ends, with elections scheduled for February 2023.
But this is not the first attempt by the Nigerian government to run a national carrier.
The country has been without a national carrier since 2003 with the previous state airlines folding due to problems of governance.
Nigeria Airways, in which the government owned a majority stake, folded in 2003. Air Nigeria, a later iteration of Nigeria’s flag carrier set up with the government and Virgin Group, ceased its operations in 2012.
However, Nigeria being the largest country by population in Africa with just over 215 million people and with that number expected to exceed over 400 million by 2050 according to the United Nations, there is a burgeoning aviation market.
By also being an economic powerhouse in Sub-Saharan Africa it’s critical for Nigeria Air to get up and begin operating as quickly as possible in order to keep up with the competition.
