The Ethiopian Airlines Group has denied rumors that it is working to revive plans to establish a Nigerian national carrier in partnership with the Nigerian government.
A visit to Addis Ababa by Festus Keyamo, Nigerian Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, and other officials last week once again sparked reports that the flag carrier is looking to resume the venture, which was dissolved last year.
However, Group executives told The Reporter that the discussions between Keyamo and CEO Mesfin Tassew did not touch on the subject.
“The meeting did not revolve around the Nigerian Air project. It was rather focused on African aviation industry developments,” said one source, speaking anonymously.
Briefing the media about the Group’s annual performance report in July 2024, the CEO of the African aviation giant had made it clear that the joint venture was dead in the water.
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“Unless new negotiations are drafted in the future, the issue of the Nigeria air project is not one we would visit again,” said Mesfin.
Sources disclosed that no fresh discussions on the subject have materialized since then, asserting the Nigerian delegation’s visit was tied to the AU Summit held in Addis Ababa last week.
Efforts to establish Nigeria Air were kicked off under the administration of Nigeria’s former president Muhammadu Buhari in 2018. Four years later, news broke of an arrangement that would see the Ethiopian Airlines Group hold a 49 percent stake in the proposed airline, with the Nigerian government holding the remainder under the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.
However, the deal faced heavy backlash from local Nigerian carriers who feared losing market share to the Ethiopian Airlines-backed state carrier, eventually leading to the project being dissolved.