Nigeria Air has no operating licence, airlines allege

Nigeria Air, the proposed national carrier for the nation, may not start operations any time soon since it lacks an airline operator’s certificate, according to Airline Operators of Nigeria.

Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, the spokesman for Airline Operators of Nigeria, stated to The Punch in Abuja on Monday that if Nigeria Air were to launch operations in October 2023, it would be doing so without a current Air Operator Certificate.

“The AOC is still in stage one,” Okonkwo declared. I don’t want to waste any more time on that. They won’t be using AOC if they launch in October.

The new national airline, Nigerian Air, will start operations by October, according to Mesfin Tasew, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, who made the announcement in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday.

He continued by saying that the company was keen for Nigeria Air to begin operating on both domestic and foreign routes.

Recall that Nigeria Air had been the centre of much controversy, particularly in the last months of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency.

According to a letter from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, it was unable to advance to phase two of the AOC process in June 2023.

Okonkwo, who is also the chairman of United Nigeria Airline, continued by saying that any activity that ran counter to the court ruling would be a blatant infraction of the law.

He expressed hope that the appropriate action will be taken by the court to resolve the issue.

Anything contrary to the court order is a complete violation, and the court would undoubtedly take the necessary action given that it is still in effect.

“We have stated our stance towards Nigeria Air. There isn’t any more time to waste. Our top objective right now is to help the industry overcome a more significant challenge, he emphasised.