New national carrier plane to fly on Friday – Sirika

New national carrier plane to fly on Friday – Sirika

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said the much anticipated new national career, Nigeria Air, will begin operations on Friday, three days to the terminal date of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Sirika said the new airline’s plane would arrive in Nigeria on Friday.
He disclosed this Wednesday on Channels TV.
He said that the aircraft would be unveiled in Nigeria’s colours, adding that the implementation of the aviation roadmap has been achieved 100 percent.
He said: “On the question of Nigeria Air, on Friday in two days, Nigeria Air plane will land in Nigeria as part of the processes to commence operation. We will on that day unveil this aircraft, the livery and everything in Nigeria’s colours, belong to Nigeria Air and we will proceed to go and do the retrofit and bring back those airplanes.”
However, it is not clear whether the airline would be cleared to commence operations or demonstration flights as part of the requirement to secure the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) amidst disquiet within the industry over alleged move by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to waive some requirements to enable the take-off of the airline.
Also, the order of perpetual injunction issued against the airline in the suit filed by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), is yet to be set aside even as the substantive motion challenging the shareholding structure is yet to be heard.
Additionally, despite receiving the Air Transport License (ATL), a prerequisite for obtaining an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), the airline still has a long way to go before meeting the stringent standards of the AOC, especially the stipulation of 50-hour demonstration flights for any intending carrier