Nigeria has invited South African Airways (SAA) to bid for its proposed new national carrier to replace the bankrupt Nigeria Airways, officials said on Thursday.
President Olusegun Obasanjo last month approved a new airline for Nigeria after Nigeria Airways was liquidated because of debts and inefficiency.
Aviation minister Isa Yuguda told South African ambassador to Nigeria Bangumzi Sifingo on Wednesday that new investors had been invited to bid for the new carrier.
He said SAA had also been invited to submit its expression of interest as a core investor in the proposed national carrier.
He said the bidding process will be open and transparent to all applicants, adding that the successful bidder is expected to establish the new national carrier in the next two months.
Sifingo said the South African carrier will bid for the Nigerian airline in the spirit of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).
”This partnership will benefit Nigerians by way of employment. In addition to this, it also has the capacity to guarantee a proper network continentally in the spirit of Nepad,” he added.
He pledged SAA’s determination and commitment to run the Nigerian airline efficiently and profitably because of the long-standing business relationship between the two carriers.
The South African carrier in 2001 negotiated the right to fly the potentially lucrative Lagos to New York route with the Nigerian operator.
Under the arrangement, SAA was running three flights a week from Lagos to New York, linking to Johannesburg, and was allocating 109 seats on the SAA plane to Nigerian Airways to sell.
But the deal hit the rocks a few months later due to disagreements over contract details between the two airlines. — Sapa-AFP