FG to unveil Nigeria Air amid uncertainty over ‘arrival’ of plane

The federal government says it is set to officially unveil Nigeria Air, the proposed national airline, on Friday (today) by 4 pm.

According to an invitation to TheCable, the unveiling ceremony will hold at the Nigerian Air Operations Centre at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

“The federal ministry of aviation cordially requests your presence at the official unveiling of Nigeria Air on Friday, 26th May 2023, at 4 pm,” the document reads.

The unveiling comes two days after Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, said the aircraft for the proposed national carrier would arrive in the country and commence operations before May 29 when his tenure would elapse.

Sirika had said the aircraft will be unveiled in Nigeria’s colours (green and white), in fulfilment of all the promises made by the administration in the aviation sector.

But while Nigerians are anticipating what may come across as historic, there has been uncertainty over the arrival of the plane as promised by Sirika, after an unverified video suggesting that the federal government had taken delivery of the aircraft, circulated on social media on Friday morning.

In the video, the aircraft was parked at an airport in the company of other planes — one of which had the Ethiopian flag colours.

The clip did not give verifiable details on the location of the aircraft nor the exact airport where it was parked.

Come and fly 😎 https://t.co/cJgnm7clWO pic.twitter.com/N6309eZLy2

— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) May 26, 2023

A tweet by a prominent news platform, further said the plane arrived at NAIA on Friday.

But sources in Abuja confirmed to TheCable that “no plane has arrived at the airport” yet.

Meanwhile, plans for Nigeria Air to kick off operations have sparked controversy between airline operators and the aviation ministry.

On Friday, TheCable reported that domestic aviation firms, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), condemned the move by Sirika to float the proposed national airline before May 29, 2023.

The airlines, in a statement on Friday, signed by Obiora Okonkwo, spokesperson of AON, described the move as contemptuous and shadowy, especially because Nigeria Air was yet to complete the process of acquiring an airline operating certificate (AOC) — a critical licence for operations.