The Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr. Mesfin Tasew has provided an insight into the involvement of the East African Airline in the setting up of Nigeria Air, saying the airline almost withdrew but the government insisted it should continue with the process.
This is the first time the Ethiopian Airlines leadership would speak on the controversy over the airline which dogged the last minutes of the immediate past administration.
Former Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika had floated the airline on May 27 which did not see the light of the day as it was later discovered that a plane belonging to ET was used to conduct a demonstration flight against the dictate of the process for the establishment of a new airline.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had sued the Federal Government challenging the selection of Ethiopian Airlines as the preferred bidders to midwife the process.
But speaking with some Nigerian journalists in Addis Ababa, the Airline’s CEO stated that the East African carrier never had any plan to set up an airline in Nigeria but was invited by the federal government to partner with it to establish a national carrier, Nigeria Air.
It also explained that the federal government requested that the Nigeria Air logo be painted on the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft be painted for inspection and the airline agreed.
FG asked us to paint our aircraft Nigeria logo for Nigeria Air unveiling. He said the airline at first resisted the invitation to set up the airline but later agreed due to long relationship it has with Nigeria where it operates to four cities. He said while Ethiopian Airlines and the Nigeran government were preparing the shareholding, it received message that some companies and airlines in Nigeria were defaming Ethiopian Airlines and the federal government and had gone to court and obtained a court order to stop the establishment of Nigeria Air.
This prompted Ethiopian Airlines to want to withdraw, but the Nigerian government insisted that it should continue the process of establishing the national carrier for the most populous nation in Africa.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines said that until now the airline had not decided whether to continue the process to establish Nigeria Air but the federal government said it should continue with the groundwork until the court vacates the order, insisting that it was not cancelling the project.
