On August 31, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, suspended the Nigeria Air project.

With an ownership structure of 49 percent held by Ethiopian Airlines, 46 percent by Nigerian private investors (SAHCO, MRS and other institutional investors), and five percent by the federal government, the supposed latest national carrier was unveiled about three days before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Keyamo, after announcing the suspension, said he owed it to the government and Nigerians to give an honest assessment before allowing the national carrier project to continue.

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He also suspended all contracts, projects and concessions in the sector until further notice.

Before now, the unveiling of the national carrier had generated a lot of controversy with Hadi Sirika, the former aviation minister, claiming N3 billion spent in seven years to ensure the airline became operational.

With the latest suspension announcement made by Keyamo, however, the possibility of the project taking off anytime soon now hangs in the balance.

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Below is a timeline of how Nigeria, in its attempt to operate a national carrier, had failed in the past.

NIGERIA AIRWAYS (1971–2003)

On January 22, 1971, Nigeria Airways was launched as the country’s official carrier. For many years, the airline served as a link to various destinations within Nigeria, West and Central Africa, Europe, USA, the Middle East and Asia.

The airline later plunged into a gradual demise when internal factors such as very low managerial competence, poor management culture, manual passenger handling, decadent work culture, receding knowledge of staff, and retrogressive and injurious union activism, and fraudulent activities on the part of both the military-led government and staff members posed as hindrances for its progress.

This period also coincided with the emergence of “unfriendly” International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies, forcing the already mismanaged airline to incur debts.

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At the time of its closure, the airline had debts totalling $528 million. Nigeria Airways also closed with a poor safety record and with an operating fleet comprising a single aircraft flying domestic routes and two leased aircraft operating the international network.

VIRGIN NIGERIA AIRWAYS (AIR NIGERIA) (2004–2012)

After the demise of Nigeria Airways, Virgin Nigeria Airways was founded in 2004. It did not, however, commence operations until June 28, 2005. It was a joint venture between Nigerian investors and the Virgin Group.

With time, Virgin Nigeria became the country’s largest airline, conveying thousands of passengers and tons of freights to their destinations within its first two years of operation.

The airline also received many accolades and awards, one of which was a nomination for 2006 African Airline of the year by the Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA).

Following a dispute between the ministry of transportation and Virgin Atlantic over its domestic operations in 2008, the latter offered to sell its 49 percent stake in Virgin Nigeria.

Apart from this, the airline also chose to carry out a review on whether it was appropriate that the Virgin brand remained linked to Virgin Nigeria.

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While the dispute lasted, Richard Branson, the owner of the Virgin Group, blamed the face-off on Nigerian politicians and regulators, regarding them as “the mafia”.

On September 17, 2009, Virgin Nigeria announced on its website it had changed its name from Virgin Nigeria to Nigerian Eagle Airlines.

During the Nigerian Eagle period, the management of the new airline said it would focus on domestic and regional flights with further expansion into Europe and eventually the USA.

Interestingly, and despite its initial dispute with the transportation ministry, the Virgin Group retained its 49 per cent stake in the airline.

Following the acquisition of a majority share in the airline by Jimoh Ibrahim, a Nigerian businessman, on June 2, 2010, the airline’s name was further changed to Air Nigeria.

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Just like Nigeria Airways, however, Nigerian Eagle Airlines operations also came to an abrupt end in September 2012 due to financial mismanagement. The airline collapsed under a N35 billion debt.

NIGERIA AIR (2018–???)

Nigeria Air never commenced operations despite being founded on July 5, 2018 (five years ago).

Presently, the Ethiopian Airlines has a 49 percent stake in the airline, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority has 46 percent control and the Federal Government of Nigeria controls the remaining five percent ownership.

The airline was initially expected to begin operations in September 2018 but it could not because the then Economic Management Team (EMT) led by former vice president Yemi Osinbajo did not approve of it.

Yet again, an announcement was made that the national carrier would begin operations on May 29 after it received its first Boeing 737-800 aircraft on 26 May but this was met by a stiff opposition from domestic airlines.

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The airlines had filed a suit at a Lagos high court, stopping the national carrier deal the FG had with Ethiopian airlines. The suit also demanded that the Air Transport Licence already issued to Nigeria Air by the federal government and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority be withdrawn.

With the latest announcement by Keyamo, no one knows if Nigeria would eventually have a functional national airline anytime soon.