Unofficial report on Saturday claims that the Boeing 737-800 series aircraft, which the Federal government flew into Abuja on Friday for the unveiling of Nigeria Air, belongs to Ethiopia Airlines.
The aircraft reportedly took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at 9:55am on Friday, and landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 12:43 pm.
The report further claimed that up until Sunday, the aircraft flew for its original owners – Ethiopia Airline.
Flightradar, the popular flight tracking website, said the aircraft operated between Tel Aviv and Mogadishu, Somalia, still on May 21, 2023.
However, Ethiopian Airlines is a majority shareholder in Nigeria Air project.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who announced the landing of the aircraft, was silent on whether or not the aircraft was purchased for the project.
Last year, the minister told journalists that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the leasing of three aircraft for the carrier.
He had said: “We have said in our outline business case, which was earlier approved, that we are starting with three aircraft for the first instance and then we progress. We will have a mixture of Airbus and Boeings because every airline that will grow big uses the two.
“We will start with domestic flights and then we grow to become international and then we move to become regional and intercontinental. There are challenges currently in our aviation industry but it is a global phenomenon and it will not last forever because aviation is a very resilient sector. Certainly, we will overcome these problems.”