The Federal Government’s 5% ownership in Nigeria Air, the country’s national airline, is worth $12.5 million.
According to Nairametrics, this was disclosed by the Transaction Adviser to the project, Prof. Tilmann Gabriel.
According to him, the Nigerian government invested $12.5 million as launch capital for the airline, asserting that the investment was in keeping with their 5% stake in the enterprise.
Unlike other stakeholders in the sector, particularly the Airline Operators of Nigeria, Gabriel claimed that the process leading to the founding of the airline was transparent.
He emphasized that the government had assured that the airline had a defined ownership structure through the Public Private Partnership.
The Transaction Adviser insisted that the airline had a solid financial base with the overall investment amount.
According to him, Nigeria Air has a good business plan for the next ten years and a total start-up expenditure of $250 million.
He asserted that Nigeria Air was ready to resume domestic services with a fleet of Boeing 737s, and that the company was already recruiting more Nigerian aviation specialists to assist launch the airline
“The Operations Control Centre at the Abuja Airport is ready to be opened with the most modern IT systems. The booking engines on the airline website and App will be available shortly with loyalty credit cards and other innovative pay systems.
“The immediate goal is to introduce all up-to-date customer service systems to make flying a pleasurable and easy-to-use enjoyment. Nigeria Air will be a new competitor in the Nigerian market, adding to the existing airlines. As Michael Porter taught us many years ago, the five factors of competition are for all businesses to recognize, amongst them is that all competition creates new businesses for all, as the customer has added choices.
“In short, the new year 2023 will have added choices for domestic flights for all customers, soon also on the regional and international markets,” he said.
