The issue of establishing airlines in Nigeria has become more of a political issue than a business one, as revealed by the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group. Ethiopian Airlines has expressed keen interest in working with South Africa in terms of partnership.
Mesfin Tasew, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, recalled that the project was initiated by the former Nigerian government, but the new government decided to postpone it.
“The new government wanted to suspend the project, so we had no choice but to suspend the process. It has now been postponed,” he said.
“Even though we understood that the business environment in Nigeria was challenging, we took it as a challenge and started establishing the line. But in the middle, a group of Nigerian airlines opposed the idea and took the case to court, despite the strong support for the project from the former government,” he recalled.
“After the change of government, the new administration wanted to suspend the project, so we had no choice but to suspend it,” he added.
He said that the project stalled because of political intentions rather than business reasons.
“Initially, it was a request from the government. Now, the government wants to postpone it. So the issue became more political than business, which is why it was discontinued,” he explained.
Regarding the South African Airways project, the CEO recalled that the initiative was carried out by his predecessor, Tewolde Gebremariam.
He said that now they have seen the interest, they would like to give it a try. “We want to evaluate it and hopefully engage in the partnership.”
The former leadership of Ethiopian Airlines has expressed its interest in engaging in a partnership to support the struggling South African Airways.
Ethiopian Airlines has created strong trust in the initiative to enhance airline services in some African countries, and several other governments have expressed their interest in getting support from the continental giant.
