Nigeria will soon launch a new national airline to replace Nigeria Airways, a debt- and corruption-ridden carrier threatened with liquidation, aviation sources said on Monday.
Nigerian Global, a joint venture company between the government, Triation AG of Switzerland and some Nigerian partners, will soon replace Nigeria Airways, they said.
A London court recently ordered the liquidation of Nigeria Airways, established in 1959.
However, the Nigerian government floated the proposal for a new airline, Nigerian Global, ostensibly to prevent the assets of the erstwhile national carrier from being seized by its foreign creditors.
An Airbus 310 sporting the emblem of the proposed new carrier, Nigerian Global, arrived the country on April 17 and another plane was due to come this weekend, sources said.
A total of eight Airbus 310 planes are expected to be brought into Nigeria as part of the new airline’s fleet.
Top officials of Nigeria Airways, including the managing director recently, resigned in protest against what they called government interference in the management of the airline.
In 18 years, the airline has had 12 managing directors. From a fleet that two decades ago boasted 20 planes, Nigeria Airways has only one plane left.
Critics of Nigeria Airways derisively call it Nigeria air waste. – Sapa-AFP