Ethiopian Airlines may takeover Nigeria's national carrier

Ethiopian Airlines is the frontrunner to set up and manage a new national carrier for Nigeria, its CE said. “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,” CE Tewolde Gebremariam said. The carrier has outpaced regional competitors Kenya Airways and South African Airways to become Africa’s largest airline by revenue and profit, according to the IATA. Ethiopian Airlines already has contracts for maintenance work with 2 Nigeria-based carriers, Arik Air and Medview Airline, he said. In May, Tewolde said that the airline was in talks with Chad, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea to set up carriers through joint ventures. It also aimed to create a new airline in Mozambique that it will fully own. <br/>