We Chartered Ethiopian Airlines Aircraft To Unveil Nigeria Air, MD Confesses

Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Capt. Dapo Olumide, has revealed that the aircraft that flew in with the logo of the airline was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines for the purpose of unveiling the logo.

Daily Trust had reported Ethiopian Airlines ownership of the Boeing 737-800 series aircraft flown into Abuja from Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on May 26.

The aircraft took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at 9:55am on May 26 and landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 12:43 p.m.

Shortly after the aircraft landed, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, expressed delight that after “a very long, tedious, daunting and difficult path”, the project had taken off.

He later unveiled the aircraft with registration ET-APL at the General Aviation Terminal of the Abuja airport.

Investigations showed that the aircraft flew for its original airline up till four days before it was brought to Nigeria.

It embarked on a trip from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv in Israel, according to the flight history.

Flightradar, the popular flight tracking website, said the aircraft operated between Tel Aviv and Mogadishu, Somalia, still on May 21, 2023.

On 20th May, it operated both Mogadishu in Somalia and Beirut on 20th May while the previous day it also serviced Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

But when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday, Olumide said Nigeria Air had yet to secure an operating licence for full flight operations, saying that the processes were still at the early stages.

Olumide said the aircraft was used pending the completion of the processes required for the operation of the airline.

-Dailytrust