Posted by The Guardian on
A week after acquiring EAS Airlines, NICON Airways is on the verge of increasing its stake in the aviation sector as it plans to buy Ghana Airways......
A week after acquiring EAS Airlines, NICON Airways is on the verge of increasing its stake in the aviation sector as it plans to buy Ghana Airways.
The Guardian learnt that the idea is to enable the new airline fly to the United Kingdom and other lucrative international routes through Accra. The chances of any Nigerian carrier flying into those international routes appear remote as the country's flag sector carrier, Virgin Nigeria enjoys a seven-and-half year protection right from the Federal Government.
This condition was accepted by the government before the start of the Virgin Nigeria's operations last year. The Chairman of NICON Group, Jimoh Ibrahim had told journalists at the formal acquisition of the airline that his plan was to fly the airline to the United Kingdom, adding that he was motivated to set up an airline by the entrepreneurial skills of the maverick chairman of Virgin Atlantic Group, Sir Richard Branson. Ibrahim however declined to disclose how he was going to operate into those routes, considering the obstacles to doing this. In 2005, the official liquidator of Ghana Airways, Mr. J Harley disclosed that the process of liquidating the company would be fast-tracked to ensure that work on the exercise was completed before the end of 2006. The need for the government, the sole shareholder of the airline to liquidate it arose as a result of the airline's inability to meet its obligations to its creditors, resulting in its current bankruptcy.
The airline is indebted to the tune of over $170 million. The Ghanaian government's desire has been to get the negotiation completed on time.The assets of the airline were in April 2006 put up for sale. Price Waterhouse Coopers, an accounting firm is responsible for the sale of the assets.