The new Nigerian national air carrier, Nigeria Air has advertised the recruitment of Nigerian Captains, First Officers, Senior Cabin Crews, Cabin Crews and other critical staff.

This was made public Friday amidst cynicism by some stakeholders in the sector that it will take off with foreign Pilots and crew.

The airline in an advertisement posted by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation, Dr James Odaudu on Friday said it will be “launching shortly with Boeing 737-800 (NG) aircraft, followed thereafter with B787 aircraft for international operations”.

In a similar development the Ethiopian Airlines has been confirmed the preferred bidder of Nigeria Air, following a successful bid.

Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika announced this at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, the airline and a Nigerian consortium won the bid and they will have 49% and 46% controlling shares respectively.

The Minister disclosed that Ethiopian Airline was the only airline that met the bidding close date and also met the evaluation criteria.

He stated that the consortium has been subjected to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the FGN, leading to a Full Business Case, which will be expected to be approved Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The federal government according to Sirika expects this process to take six to eight weeks.

The report stated that Nigeria Air will launch with a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable and affordable travel between these two major Nigerian Airports.

Other domestic destination will follow thereafter, adding that the Request for Proposal (RFP) under the PPP act, governed by ICRC, is completed.

“An interim Executive Team of highly skilled Aviation Experts has been working since FEB 2022 to set up all the necessary regulatory and industry requirements to launch the National Carrier. All Executives have been approved by NCAA, the Air Transport License has been issued by NCAA, Nigeria Air (after having identified the first three aircraft) will now finalize all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through the inspection and approval process of NCAA.

“The money spent for the launch of Nigeria Air, for all the requirements to establish an AOC and be admitted starting an airline operation, is well within the 5% capital investment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, that will be overall needed to establish the National Carrier initially for the AOC approval and everything else required by stringent national aviation regulations, as prescribed in the FEC approved Outline Business Case (OBC).”

“The new airline will be owned by a Nigerian private investor consortium together with a 5 percent federal government holding, including Ethiopian Airline’s shareholding,” the company said in the advertisement.

The positions to be filled include qualified and experienced Boeing 737 captains, first officers, senior cabin crew and cabin crew, and engineers (B1/B2 preferred).

The positions, it stated, are based in Abuja or Lagos with “competitive salaries to be offered”.

“All qualified and interested candidates are to visit the application portal for other open positions which will be available shortly on the website www.nigeriaair.world,” it said.

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