By Nkem Osuagwu
The Federal Government said it will soon unveil a new national airline, even as it is understudying the business out line for the concession of airports.
The Minister of State on Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, disclosed this on Thursday, this week at a press briefing with Aviation correspondents.
He said, “Where are we? I think in the next couple of months, one month to two months maximum, by March we should be able to have our outline business base for this transaction. I will say that we are very close to having the national carrier established. Certainly it would be within the first term of this administration”.
On the issue of airport concession, he said, “The transaction advisors for the concession have brought in the outline business case. We are studying it and we are going to do our full business case and it would happen so soon.”
He said the panel rejected the proposal from Lufthansa Consortium on the national airline because they prefer to deal with specific companies instead of a consortium, and also the requested for a waiver on tax payment which is against the law.
His words, “It was impossible for us to continue the procurement with Lufthansa Consortium. What we did since they are many, we substituted them with another company that is even, fair, that has no appendage with any other company that might be interested. On the issue of Lufthansa Consortium, part of what they required from us for the national carrier was that they wouldn’t be charged any tax which is against our law”.
The minister appealed to ex-Nigeria Airways workers to exercise patient as the federal ministry of finance works on the settlement of their entitlements and gratuities.
He also spoke on the issue of the recent incident involving a Dana Airline aircraft in Abuja in which its door fell off while it was taxing to the apron after landing.
He said, “Now that is well documented and NCAA is presently investigating it and the reason why NCAA is investigating is because it falls within their purview to investigate minor incident of this nature. If it had been serious accident or serious damage to the aircraft it would have been the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) investigating it.
“I’ve been following up since yesterday when I learnt of it with NCAA. They are investigating it and within very few hours, within one day also, they will come out with a report and we will explain to Nigeria what happened. And I want to use this opportunity to say that what has happened though very scary and uncomfortable, it is an incident that is minor and that kind of thing would not happen in-flight at altitude as to cause an accident or serious degree incident. So we thank God for that. The airlines are being investigated and NCAA is doing its job and I cannot be preemptive of their investigation and I hope the investigation would not last longer than a day or two.”
