Despite the uncertainties surrounding Nigeria's plan to establish a national carrier by December this year, Middle East carrier, Qatar Airways has been engaged to be the core investor and Airbus to be the provider of aircraft that would feed the leasing company, which would provide aircraft with fleet.

Although the Transaction Adviser, which was established to chart modalities for establishing the national airline, has advanced in its work, the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika confirmed the development, as government is said to be poised to deliver on its promise.

Sirika recently met with Boeing on similar discussions, but THISDAY learnt from sources familiar with the deal, that Airbus wants to stamp its foothold in West and Central Africa dominated by Boeing aircraft and also wants to use the opportunity provided by the proposed national carrier to do so.

A source told THISDAY that in the interim, Qatar Airways would provide long-haul aircraft for the new airline on wet lease, which means that the flights would be operated mainly by the Middle East airline's crew and technical personnel till when the national carrier would be able to take over fully.

The source explained that if Airbus succeeds in providing aircraft for the leasing company, it would deploy its short haul aircraft for domestic and West Coast operations, which would be operated by pilots recruited by the new company.

If government succeeds in establishing the national airline, the Buhari administration must have realised a key project in the aviation industry, which will have reverberating effect in the economy of the country.

The federal government had promised to concession the major airports in the country, establish aircraft leasing company, a maintenance facility and a national carrier and it has instituted transaction adviser to actualize these projects but industry observers say that failing to realize these plans in the last three years, it would be difficult to establish them in the remaining one year of the administration.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201806010535.html

All for cheap election point