Ethiopian Airlines no longer interested in setting up Nigeria's national carrier - CEO Bekele

Mesfin Tasew Bekele, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines has said it no longer has intention to set up national carrier for Nigeria.

In a video interview with Bloomberg Africa, Bekele said plans for Ethiopian Airlines to establish a carrier together with institutional investors and the Nigerian government ended.

“We don’t have any intention to partner with any of the Nigerian airlines today because it has been politicised.

“We tried to help the country by partnering with the government and other institutional investors in Nigeria to use our expertise and experience and establish a reliable airline that would be profitable in the short term.

“As you have read by the media, it was not welcomed by the Nigerian airlines,” Bekele said in the interview.

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Few weeks ago, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos declared null and void the sale of Nigeria Air Ltd to Ethiopian Airlines

Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa in his judgment stopping the sale, ordered that the proposed establishment of a national carrier-Nigeria Air, by the Federal Government, should not be carried out.

The judge made the order while granting the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs, the Registered Trustees of the Airline Operators of Nigeria and five others in the aviation industry.

Lewis-Allagoa held that all the reliefs sought are granted except for the relief asking for ₦2bn as damages for the injury suffered by the Plaintiffs as a result of their wrongful exclusion and the wrongful action; unlawful bidding and selection processes for the Nigeria Air project.

Listed as the 1st to 6th plaintiffs in the suit are the Registered Trustees of the Airline Operators, Azman Air Services Limited, Air Peace Limited, Max Air Limited, United Nigeria Airlines Company Limited and Topbrass Aviation Limited.

The plaintiffs had filed the suit against the first to fourth defendants; Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines, Senator Hadi Sirika (former Minister of Aviation, Federal Ministry of Aviation) and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.