Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The federal government says Nigeria Air, the country’s proposed national carrier, has received the Air Transport Licence (ATL) to commence operation.
The federal ministry of aviation, said this on Monday in a tweet via its official Twitter page.
This development comes four years after the national carrier was unveiled by Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation.
The ministry, on Sunday, announced that the proposed national carrier would receive an ATL from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Monday.
Following the presentation which was done at NCAA’s headquarters in Abuja, the ministry took to Twitter to share the information.
“The ATL certificate has been presented to Nigeria Air. Congratulations!,” the tweet reads.
“Nigeria Air is here and is going to provide quality service to Nigerians.”
Also reacting to the development in a Tweet, Sirika said commencement of domestic operations would be announced soon.
“Nigeria Air Limited received from Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) an Air Transport License (ATL), signaling the end of the beginning of operations of the Airline. Commencement date of domestic operations will be announced in due course,” he said.
In March Nigeria Air Limited applied to NCAA for a license to operate scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo services.
This is after the federal government opened a bid for proposal on the national carrier to both private and public investors.
It added that five percent of the airline shares will be owned by the government as it seeks to improve economic growth through diversification.
According to the minister, the proposed national carrier is to begin operations with three wet-leased aircraft.
