The Federal Government says the new national carrier, Nigeria Air is expected to start operation in the first quarter of 2022.

This is as disclosed on Wednesday, by Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, where he explained that “the new national carrier is long overdue and the private sector-run airline will be in operation by early 2022, with possibly cheaper rates.”

Since the famous national carrier, Nigeria Airways ceased operations in 2003 and was liquidated a year later to pave way for its replacement; Virgin Nigeria, a failed partnership agreement with Virgin Atlantic; it has been the hope of Nigerians that government will do the needful in birthing a new national carrier.

This hope was somewhat rekindled in July 2018, when Nigeria’s Aviation Minister unveiled the name and logo of a proposed airline and flag carrier, ‘Nigeria Air’ at the Farnborough Air Show in the United Kingdom. He announced that operations at the ‘privately-operated’ airline would begin in December 2018, with a presidential media aide stressing (around same period) that the government will not own more than 5% of the airline.

This hope would be dashed about two months later, as the Federal Government on 19 September 2018, announced the suspension of the Nigeria Air, in what was described as a tough decision. Expectedly, the action has since thrown up arguments centered around incompetence of the Buhari administration to deliver such an important project, to those on the need for a national carrier in the first place.

A Thisday article of October 20, 2017, argues that “a national airline is a catalyst to the growth and development of other sectors of the economy,” adding that it will not be established solely for profit but to support other sectors of the economy like tourism, manpower development, aircraft maintenance, catering, developing airports and creating a hub.

The article also quotes Aviation consultant, Ali Mohammed Magashi, as arguing during the Colloquium on Aviation 2017, that “all the airlines that top the world are either owned or still owned by government. The reason is simple; aviation is not competitive in terms of returns, but it benefits other sectors of the economy and that is where government makes its profit.” This is asides his explanation that no local airline is training pilots today and those who trained cannot be absorbed by these airlines to do type-rating; which are services that used to be provided by the national carrier.

These benefits are enormous and one can only dream again – that the Nigerian Government would go all the length to see the “Second Coming of “Nigeria Airways” or “Nigeria Air” finally happen.

Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq

Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.