The Federal Executive Council, FEC, has given an approval to Nigeria Air to lease aircraft to start operations.
Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, Senator, stated this on Wednesday, July 27, during a briefing of State House reporters after the federal cabinet meeting which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“We have said in our outline business case, which was earlier approved, that we are starting with three aircraft for the first instance and then we progress. We will have a mixture of Airbus and Boeings because every airline that will grow big uses the two,” he said.
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Mr Sirika said Nigeria Air will start with domestic flights before expanding to international routes.
“We will start with domestic flights and then we grow to become international and then we move to become regional and intercontinental. He said
“There are challenges currently in our aviation industry but it is a global phenomenon and it will not last forever because aviation is a very resilient sector. Certainly, we will overcome these problems,” he added.
The Minister, however, did not disclose when the national carrier would start it’s operations, but noted that the company would begin with three aircraft.
According to him, Nigeria Air was open to investment from any of the country’s airline companies, particularly the 51% shares set aside for Nigerians.
“I presented two memoranda on national carrier to allow the Nigeria Air to lease aircraft to start operations. That has been approved by the Council
