The Boeing 737-800 series aircraft which the Federal Government flew into Abuja for the unveiling of Nigeria Air belongs to Ethiopia Airlines. The Federal Government unveiled the airline labelled “Nigeria Air”, a national carrier. The Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika performed the ceremony at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Friday.
The aircraft took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at 9:55am on Friday and landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 12:43 p.m. Thirty aircraft are expected to form the fleet of Nigeria Air in the next five years. However, only one aircraft has arrived.
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.
Checks showed that the aircraft is owned by Ethiopian Airlines. ET-APL is written on the wing of planes operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
The aircraft flew for its original airline up till Sunday. 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.
Ethiopian Airlines is a majority shareholder in Nigeria Air project. It has a 49% stake, a structure which made domestic airlines under the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) file a suit against the Federal Government.
