NASS seeks prosecution of individuals, groups, or organisation involved in unveiling airplane
Dayo Olumide, the acting managing director of Nigeria’s purported national carrier Nigeria Air, has revealed that the airplane unveiled two weeks ago by Hadi Sirika, the immediate past minister of aviation, for the proposed Nigeria Air was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines, ET.
Recall that on May 26, 2023, a Boeing 737-800 series airplane with the ‘Nigeria Air’ inscription, which left the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Since the unveiling, there has been controversy about the airplane as its registration number, ET-APL, shows that it was registered in the East African country of Ethiopia to ET and still in active service as at the time it arrived in Nigeria.
On Tuesday, during a grilling session by the Senate Committee on Aviation, Olumide confirmed the speculations, saying the airplane was hired for 48 hours to show Nigerians and shareholders what the Nigeria Air aircraft “will look like.”
“The aircraft that came in and left was a legitimate charter flight. Anyone of us here if we have a destination wedding in Senegal, we can charter an aircraft,” the captain told the committee.
“You don’t need to have a license to do that, you just charter an aircraft, an aircraft you paid for it, it will be brought here, take your passengers, and off you go. And that is what we did. But in this case, it was to unveil.
“Ever since 2018, all you have ever seen about Nigeria Aircraft were pictures, and drawings, not the real aircraft, and we thought it was time to show what the real aircraft will look like and also to let shareholders know.
“You see we have institutional investors, they are not in aviation, but they are putting their money for 10 or 15 years and to exit may be at the premium. So they need to see what the actual aircraft will look like. So, we brought it in here to show them what the aircraft will look like.”
Olumide explained that the aircraft must be Nigeria-registered for Nigeria to operate a national carrier. He added that the particular aircraft that was unveiled was chartered because Nigeria Air has not gotten the air operating certificate, AOC, to operate as an airline.
- Osimhen Fires Nigeria into 2026 World Cup African Playoffs - October 14, 2025
- FG Approves New Admission Criteria for Tertiary Institutions - October 14, 2025
- Evangelist Uma Ukpai Dies at 80 - October 13, 2025