As the federal government fine-tunes arrangements for the setting up of a national carrier, the Chief Executive Officer of Luz International Limited, Mr. John Oguadinma has offered to fast tract the process of forming the new National Carrier and to run it profitably for the country if given the opportunity.
Oguadimma advised the federal government to make available $2.1billion for the acquisition of 33 aircraft for the start of a formidable National Carrier in the country.
Speaking with Journalists at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Mr. Oguadinma said that out of the $2.1billion, $1.42million should be sent directly to Boeing manufacturer to procure eight Boeing 747-8 freighter aircraft and two Boeing 777 long range aircraft and five Boeing 737-800 series for the local routes and other Africa countries, while another $158 million should be paid to Bombardier manufacturer to procure 13 aircraft to serve all the local routes across the states in Nigeria and some West African countries.
In total, 20 aircraft would be gotten form Boeing manufacturer and 13 aircraft from Bombardier making it 33 aircraft in all, he said.
“1 am making bold to say that if $2.1billion is brought out today and paid to the manufacturer for the acquisition of the aircraft, it will remain $800million and out of it, $700million will be used for the administration and $100million will be used to kick-start the operation of the airline” he affirmed.
The boss of Luz International Limited affirmed that if given the opportunity to run the airline, the new National Carrier will generate the tune of N7billion annually for the government.
He said that most airline operators were making money from their operations stressing that people had been cheating the country for a long time by siphoning the money generated from the airline citing the case of Nigeria Airways.
When asked if the new National Carrier will establish a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility, Mr. Oguadinma said that the aircraft would be maintained by Boeing and Bombardier manufacturers respectively, adding that it is those little checks that the local engineers will do.
“The main maintenance goes to Boeing and Bombardier but the little maintenance will be done by our engineers. We have a lot of engineers who are capable to do the job” he said.
