May 29: Airline operators kick against start of Nigeria Air amid controversy

The planned launch of Nigeria Air before the May 29 inauguration has been resisted by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), despite a court ruling to the contrary.

Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, an AON spokesperson, made this information public on Thursday.

His response was in response to the announcement made by the minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Wednesday that the jet of Nigeria Air will land in the nation and begin operations on Friday, before May 29.

Nevertheless, AON, which sued the federal government over the ownership structure of Nigeria Air, claimed that the minister’s comments and actions “are in flagrant disobedience of the orders of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, which halted the said moves by the minister to float the said airline until the determination of the substantive suit brought by AON against it.”

According to Okonkwo, Nigeria Air would harm the Nigerian economy and eliminate millions of current jobs since Ethiopia Airlines has the largest share in the airline.

Nigeria Air was proposed as a national carrier by the government in July 2018; nevertheless, there have been multiple missed start-up dates.