Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) along with South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) and Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) have reportedly been shortlisted as potential partners in the Nigerian government's quest to re-establish a viable national carrier.
Quoting "well placed sources", Ethiopia's Reporter newspaper did not specify in what capacity the carriers would act in relation to the proposed new airline. International consultancy firm KPMG is reportedly in charge of the selection process.
Under previous Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, Nigeria's government had sought to merge the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria's Aero Contractors (N2, Lagos) with the remains of Air Nigeria (Lagos) to form Nigerian Eagle (2013) (Lagos). However, with Oduah's departure in 2014, the status of this project is currently unknown.
All three carriers have been courted at one point or another by Abuja with Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) having also been approached in late 2013.
Of the three, South African has had the closest ties with the Nigerians having partnered, in addition to eyeing a stake in Nigeria Airways (Lagos) before its liquidation in 2003. It was also named the only bidder to become the technical partner for and 30% stakeholder in the state's successor carrier, Nigerian Eagle Airlines (Lagos), only for the Nigerians to reject the bid on the grounds that SAA was unable to manage its own operation profitably and the fact it was government-owned.
The Germans have also had a close relationship with the West African powerhouse though relations cooled in 2012 when Abuja unexpectedly annulled a 2002 Memorandum of Understanding between Lufthansa and the Nigerian government claiming the airline had failed to fulfil its part of the deal. Under the terms of the MoU, the airline was to provide training of pilots, engineers, and ground handling personnel, while in turn enjoying increased frequencies on the lucrative Lagos-Frankfurt International route. However, through its Lufthansa Consulting subsidiary, the carrier has managed to successfully establish ECAIR - Equatorial Congo Airlines (EQR, Brazzaville), now in its fourth year of operations.
For its part, Ethiopian has a proven track record in West Africa through its ASKY Airlines (KP, Lomé) subsidiary, and is also the only consistently profitable state-run airline on the continent. In addition to its West Africa and its Malawi Airlines (3W, Lilongwe) operations, it is also in talks with the South Sudanese government over the possibility of establishing a new national carrier there. Other potential partnerships include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, as well as RwandAir (WB, Kigali) in Rwanda.
