For a few weeks now, Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari and his aviation minister have insisted that Nigeria Air, a new national carrier first announced in 2018, will begin operations this year with flights between Lagos and Abuja. The government scored a major win in September by getting Ethiopia Airlines to buy a 49% stake and be the carrier’s technical partner. But the project’s take-off is being opposed by local airlines that say they were not “carried along” in the process that brought Ethiopian Airlines onboard. This week, a federal court in Lagos ordered the government to suspend its partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, based on a suit by eight local airlines including Air Peace. One of the demands of the suit was to declare that Ethiopian Airlines had no competence to bid for shares in Nigeria Air. The court order is a temporary injunction that could be overturned by another court. But it is the latest obstacle to Nigeria’s attempt to relaunch a national airline after the pre-independence Nigeria Airways collapsed in 2003 after years of mismanagement and debt.
SOURCE: QUARTZ AFRICA
