The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, today performed the branding and livery for Nigeria’s new national carrier ‘Nigeria Air’ scheduled for official launch by December this year.
The minister, who spoke at a press conference at the Farnborough Air Show, said that the event demonstrated that the Federal Government was on track in its efforts to establish a new national flag carrier.
According to him, the initiative is in fulfilment of electioneering promises made by the president, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
He enthused: “We are aiming to launch Nigeria Air by the end of this year. We are all fully committed to fulfilling the campaign promise made by our President, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
“I want to personally thank our Transaction Advisers, led by AMG, and the special Task Force, who have worked diligently to achieve the results so far and overcome the challenges involved. We obtained the Certificate of Compliance from the Nigerian Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) two weeks ago and can now go into the investor search.
“I am confident that we will have a well-run national flag carrier, a global player, compliant to international safety standards, one which has the customer at its heart. We hope to establish an airline that communicates the essence of our beautiful country, an airline we can all be proud of”, the minister added.
Sirika explained that the new name ‘Nigeria Air’ was based on extensive branding research.
It would be recalled the before the branding and naming of the new national carrier, government had undertaken some social media campaign under the auspices of The Ministry of Transportation (Aviation) which invited Nigerian youth and students for their input and creativity to come up with a name for the new Nigerian flag carrier.
The Facebook page and website engaged over 400,000 people up until the deadline for submissions, which was on 25th June 2018.
In addition, detailed and extensive market research was commissioned by the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation), which involved focus groups across Nigeria and over 100 interviews with aviation stakeholders and professionals, politicians, business owners, students and a broad spectrum of people nationwide.
The research concluded that Nigeria remained a proud nation with diverse populace, a strong cultural heritage and a people that are hungry for a unifying national flag carrier.
Also, the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation) is also currently running an aviation road map that includes airport concessions, Aerotropolis, an aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Center, agro allied terminals, the National Carrier and an aircraft leasing company.
The government has also indicated its readiness to support the launch of the new flag carrier with viability gap funding, in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to deliver a national flag carrier, guided by the international ICAO standards, that will stand the IOSA audit from the start, and lead to a fast IATA membership for international operation.
Sirika assured Nigerians and the international community that government had learnt a lot of lessons from the experience of the defunct Nigeria Airways, and now determined not to repeat the mistakes that led to its demise. This, he said, informed the decision to take the Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach.
The minister explained that the unveiling of the airline at the Farnborough International Airshow was cognizant of the fact that being the largest congregation of global aviation industry players, the event affords the best opportunity to market the airline to prospective investors and register it in the minds of all stakeholders ahead of its formal launch billed to take place in Abuja before the end of the year.
