By Louis Ibah
Indigenous airline, Medview Airline, has concluded plans to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) tomorrow, its Executive Director, Business Development, Mr. Isiaq Na-Allah, has said.
The airline started flying in Nigeria in 2006 primarily as a hajj operator conveying Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, but acquired an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for scheduled commercial flights in 2012.
Getting listed on the floor of the NSE is part of efforts by the airline to boost its capital base, acquire more fleet and hire more personnel as it seeks to further expand its domestic and international commercial flight operations.
Na-Allah told journalists at the weekend that “the decision to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was also to give members of the public the opportunity to be part of the airline through share holding.”
“The growth projection and market forecast informed Medview Airline decision to be “Listed by Introduction” on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on January 31, 2017 as the first Nigerian airline to list its shares on the local bourse in the last decade,” Na-Allah added.
He announced Kedari Capital Limited and Trustyields Securities Limited as the financial advisers/issuing house and stockbrokers to Medview Airline in respect of the listing exercise.
According to him, just within four years, the airline has become a household name in the aviation industry in Nigeria. “Within the short period, the airline has operated eight destinations – Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Yola, Enugu,Owerri and Maiduguri on its domestic network, and had flown over 2 million passengers,” he said.
At present, he explained Medview operates sub-regional and international flights into Accra, Ghana; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Monrovia, Liberia; London, UK; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Na-Allah said there were ongoing plans to launch operations this year into the United States via Baltimore, United Arab Emirates via Dubai with connections to Europe and the Far East through a code share airline partner.
“To its credit, Medview Airline has recorded a steady growth of 20 per cent in turnover and the airline has secured all necessary approvals to link all the countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the next few months. The listing will enable it expand its routes network and acquisition of more aircraft to boost operations,” he added.