Ethiopian Airlines reveals that Nigeria Air project has collapsed as Abuja loses interest in it

ETHIOPIAN Airlines has revealed that its planned joint venture with the Nigerian government to launch a continental airline to be known as Nigeria Air appears to now be dead as Abuja is no longer interested in pursuing the partnership.

Nigeria Air was launched amid a lot of fanfare in 2018 at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK, with the government promising to establish a national carrier that could compete with other successful African airlines. However, the project has been dogged by controversies since it was launched, preventing its take-off.

 Back in September 2022, the federal government named the Ethiopian Airlines Consortium as the preferred bidder for Nigeria Air, with Nigeria's aviation minister Hadi Sirika pointing out that Ethiopian Airlines won the bid with a consortium. He noted that only Ethiopian Airlines met the bidding evaluation criteria and it would hold a 49% stake in the venture, while the federal government will only have a 5% equity in the project.

In November 2022, eight local Nigerian airlines took the federal government to court, listing Nigeria Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Mr Sirika, and the attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, as defendants. Among other prayers, the indigenous airlines wanted the court to stop the national carrier deal and withdraw the air transport licence already issued to Nigeria Air by the federal government and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

According to the airlines, the federal government’s partnership with Ethiopian Airlines on the project will send domestic airlines out of business by opening up the domestic air travel market to a rival. It appears that all these problems have forced the Nigerian government to shelve the idea of launching a national carrier.

Speaking in Dubai recently, Mesfin Tasew, the chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines, said that the Nigerian government is no longer interested in establishing the joint venture.  He added:  “The Nigerian government has lost interest in partnering with a foreign airline."

Two months ago, Nigeria's federal government indefinitely suspended the Nigeria Air project. At a ministerial briefing marking the first year of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in May, aviation minister Festus Keyamo, announced the indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air project.

Mr Keyamo had previously criticized the deal with Ethiopian Airlines as unfair to Nigerian airlines, stating it would be irresponsible for the federal government to allow a foreign entity to monopolise Nigeria’s aviation industry, thereby compromising the growth of local businesses. Nigeria Air was projected to incur $8.8m in preliminary costs and $300m in take-off costs.

At the moment, Mr Sirika is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for money laundering, contract fraud in the aviation ministry and issues related to Nigeria Air. All these controversies surrounding Nigeria Air have highlighted significant challenges and discrepancies in the nation’s aviation sector, prompting calls for greater transparency and accountability.