The Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Captain Dayo Olumide, has confirmed that the recently unveiled Nigeria Aircraft was a chartered aircraft from Ethiopia that was hired for a few days to showcase the logo to Nigerians and shareholders.
Olumide made this revelation during his appearance before the Senate Committee on Aviation to clarify the controversies surrounding the airline.
He explained that the chartered flight was legitimate and anyone can charter a flight as long as they pay for it.
However, for Nigeria to operate an aircraft, the aircraft must be registered in Nigeria, the Captain explained.
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According to him, the particular aircraft that was unveiled was not registered and came into Nigeria with only a few days’ clearances from Ethiopia.
The MD stated that Nigeria currently only possesses an airport license, which is insufficient for commercial airline operations.
He revealed that the country must acquire an air license from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, which required the ownership of three Nigeria-registered aircraft.
Currently, Olumide explained Nigeria was in phase one of the five-step process to obtain the license.
While reacting to some reports that the passengers on board bought tickets, the MD refuted that the passengers were staff of Ethiopia airline that was brought in and at the end of the unveiling went back with their aircraft to Ethiopia.
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