Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo has declared that the suspended Nigeria Air project was not patriotic enough at the time it was launched.
In response to inquiries made following the swearing-in of the recently appointed chief executives and directors of the aviation agencies, Keyamo acknowledged that the nation required a new national carrier nearly thirty years after the closure of the former Nigeria Airways. Nevertheless, he insisted that the project formerly known as Nigeria Air would remain on hold until orders were received from President Bola Tinubu.
While the latest body language of the minister may have revealed that the Tinubu-led government may still go ahead to package a new national carrier for Nigerians, it is, however, certain that the model of the present government may be different from that of the immediate past government.
According to Keyamo: “It is what I have always said. Nigeria Air remains suspended. It remains suspended and very soon, we will get a clear directive on it from Mr President on how to go about it to have a national carrier. We need a national carrier that benefits the status of Nigeria. What I met on the ground was not patriotic enough”.
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The minister used the opportunity to assure the travelling public and the airlines that the 18R runway of the Murtala Muhammed Airport which had been under repairs for about a year, would soon be completed.
Reacting to the challenges confronting the domestic airlines in the country, the minister, acknowledged that the airlines were not just challenged by lack of access to loans at a single-digit rate, identified other factors such as lack of access to dry-lease at good terms as among other hindrances confronting the local operators.
“Our local operators do not have access to aircraft. They are struggling. Most of them do wet leases to meet their local obligations. All over the world, airlines do not go on wholesale purchase of aircraft. Even the biggest airlines like Emirates, Qatar and British Airways of this world, most of them have access to loans at single digit rates and we are doing 26 percent interest rate”, Keyamo added.
According to Keyamo, there is no way the airlines would survive with a bank interest rate of 26 percent, even as he hinted of the efforts so far made by the government to persuade aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus to provide opportunities for the Nigerian carriers to have access to leases at very good terms.
“This is so, so that when we have enough aircraft, there would be competition among the airlines. We can cross that path”, he added.
Speaking on the expensive fares being charged by foreign airlines, the minister attributed the development to the trapped funds which they have complained about not knowing when they would be able to recover from the country.