Nigeria Air: Ethiopian Airlines Consortium Selected As Preferred Bidder
Nigeria Air plans to launch with Boeing 737 fleet.
![Senator Hadi Sirika at Nigeria Air Press Briefing](https://afrviator.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Nigeria-Air-Senator-Hadi-Sirika-540x424.jpg)
Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder for the new national carrier – Nigeria Air.
The Federal Ministry of Aviation, Nigeria announced (September 22, 2022) Ethiopian will acquire a 49% stake, Nigerian investors – MRS, SAHCO and Sovereign Fund owning 46%, and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) – 5%.
Nigeria Air is set to launch with three Boeing 737-800 aircraft, initially offering a shuttle service between the capital, Abuja and Lagos – subsequently launching additional domestic destinations.
“It is the overall share capital of around $300M, provided by the preferred bidder that will launch Nigeria Air to its full size of 30 aircraft and international operations within the next two years.
All executives have been approved by NCAA, the Air Transport Licence has been issued by NCAA, Nigeria Air (after having identified the first three aircraft) will now finalize all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through inspection and approval process.”
– Sen. Hadi Sirika, Min. for Aviation, Nigeria.