The Federal Government has selected Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium as preferred bidder for Nigeria Air.
The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika made this known
during a media briefing on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, ET scored 89 per cent out of 100 as
regards the technical bid and 15 out 20 as regards financial bid.
Sirika explained that the Request for Proposal (RFP) under
the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, governed by Infrastructure Concession
Regulatory Commission(ICRC) regarding the Nigeria Air was now completed.
“After a careful, detailed and ICRC governed selection
process, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as preferred
bidder, offering an owner consortium of 3 Nigerian investors.
“The Nigerian investors are MRS, SAHCO and the Nigerian
Sovereign Fund (46%), FGN owning 5% and ET 49%. The consortium has been subject
to a due diligence process.
“The contract will be negotiated between consortium and FGN
leading to a Full Business Case (FBC) which will be expected to be approved by
the Federal Executive Council (FEC). We expect this process to take 6-8 weeks.”
The minister said the national carrier would be launched
with three Boeing 737-800 in a configuration very suitable for the Nigerian
market.
According to him, Nigeria Air will be launched with a
shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable,
reliable and affordable travel between the two major Nigerian Airports.
Sirika added that other domestic destinations would follow
thereafter.
“The first aircraft is ready to arrive in Abuja for the
further work and NCAA inspection, demo flights and audit as part of the AOC
requirements.
“In time, two others will arrive to complete the required
three aircraft for a new AOC holder. The interim executive team has prepared,
with the support of FAAN.
“The team has arranged for Terminal C at the Abuja Airport
and finalised a contract with MMA 2 terminal in Lagos, for the operation of an
initial shuttle between Lagos and Abuja,” he said.
He noted that the Operations Control Centre (OCC) at the
Abuja Airport would act as Headquarters of the airline.