Ethiopian carrier front runner in tender for planned Nigerian airline

Ethiopian Airlines landing at the Moi International airport in Mombasa County. [Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

Ethiopian Airlines is the front runner to set up and manage a new national carrier for Nigeria, its chief executive said on Friday. “We are among a small group with an interest in establishing a national carrier (in Nigeria) ...we do not know the results (of the tender), though we are frontrunners,” Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam told a news conference.

The state-owned carrier has outpaced regional competitors Kenya Airways and South African Airways to become Africa’s largest airline by revenue and profit, according to the International Air Transport Association.