Experts in the Nigerian aviation industry have advised the Federal Government to merge Arik Air and Aero Contractors to establish the proposed national carrier.
This is as they said no investor would invest in Arik Air in its present state with massive debts running into N300 billion.
The stakeholders also said it would cost the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) about 30 years to recoup its debts.
Speaking with newsmen at the weekend, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd) insisted that it would be difficult for AMCON to get investors to buy into the airline in its present state, saying that government should rather merge the airline with Aero Contractors to form a national carrier.
Arik Air was taken over from its original investors, led by Sir Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, in February 2017, after alleged debts to financial institutions and other partners.
Ojikutu declared that for AMCON to offset the N300 billion debt from the airline, it should be making a net profit of N10 billion annually for 30 years, stressing that this would be difficult for the corporation to achieve, especially when the current management suspended its entire long-haul routes.
He also said AMCON did not have the resources to run an airline profitably.
He said: “I did say that if they need to offset the N300 billion debt from the airline, you must be making a net profit of N10 billion annually for 30 years. I said it is going to be difficult.
“AMCON does not have the resources to run that airline, especially when it suspended its international routes. With domestic operations alone, there is no way the airline can make that profit annually.
“The federal and state governments should not have anything to do with the airline, but if they must, they must have nothing more than 10 percent of shares because we want to have a national carrier.”
Ojikutu insisted that lack of financial discipline on the part of airline operators in the country would make it difficult for them to run an airline successfully.
“Look at the history of Nigeria aviation, the only two airlines that have exceeded 40 to 50 years in this country are Nigeria Airways and Aero. Every other airline falls by the way side. The only other airline is probably ADC, which spent about 20 years.
“Any other way, they are gone within five to 10 years, and why did Nigeria Airways and British Airways last so long? Because of the foreign technical partners they had initially,” he added.
