THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The new Nigerian national carrier, Nigeria Air, has scaled one of the mandatory regulatory hurdles on Monday when it was presented the Air Transport Licence (ATL).
The licence was presented by the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, to the interim management of the airline, led by Capt. Dapo Olumide, in Abuja.
The approval will run for a period of five years, starting from June 3, 2022 till June 2, 2027.
An ATL certification is a document, which states the type of operations a carrier would embark on within and outside Nigeria, ahead of the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) that is already at the advanced stages.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had hinted that the national carrier would commence operations by next month though the search for bidders to drive the public-private venture is still ongoing.
Recall that the ministry, had early this month, extended the bidding process by one-month, now ending on June 10. Nigeria Air is to replace the defunct Nigeria Airways that ceased operations in 2003. The replacement was designed as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the Federal Government owning a marginal stake of five per cent.
Findings showed that the project had raked N14.65 billion in appropriation votes between 2019 and 2022.
About 40 per cent of the sum (N6.25 billion) had been channelled to working capital, consultancy and transaction advisers’ fees.
Kola Tella
