THISDAY

Dana Air Resumes Operations after NCAA Re-certificat­ion

- Chinedu Eze

One of Nigeria’s major carrier, Dana Air has announced that it would resume operations after concluding its recertific­ation exercise conducted by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

While undergoing the process of renewing its recertific­ation for Air Operator Certificat­e (AOC), Dana Air suspended its flights.

But the airline which announced its flight resumption, assured its passengers of additional flights to ease the pain of travellers who have had to bear the high cost of tickets as a result of flight shortage across the country.

The airline also revealed plan to acquire more aircraft in the coming year as part of its strategic route and fleet expansion programme as well as its desire to continue to provide its customers with the best in terms of in-flight service, on-time performanc­e and customer-centric products.

The airline’s Media and Communicat­ions Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa, during a chat with newsmen in Lagos at the weekend said: “We have finally concluded our re-certificat­ion exercise with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

“Re-certificat­ion in Nigeria’s aviation industry is a standard practice conducted every two years by the NCAA and during the period, an airline’s operation is totally reviewed from ground handling to quality assurance and particular­ly safety standards and we are glad to have scaled this rigorous process,” he said.

The Dana Air spokesman while thanking the NCAA for carrying out a thorough check on its operations before re-certifying the airline, said it has ready fleet for its flight operations.

‘We wish to commend the NCAA for doing a thorough job and for giving us a clean bill of health which on its own reassures our guests that our 10 years experience in Nigeria’s airspace is no fluke.

“We are however worried about some orchestrat­ed and baseless reports against our operations. We wish to state that re-certificat­ion is a compulsory exercise.

“For the records, Dana Air presently has five aircraft out of which two are undergoing mandatory maintenanc­e which in aviation is called C-checks. “The safety and comfort of our guests come first before any other considerat­ion and we find such report really unnecessar­y. We have served Nigeria for over 10 years and counting and showing massive commitment to changing the narrative about domestic airlines and Nigeria’s aviation industry as viable.

“In the interim, our smart scheduling team have created additional flights to ensure that individual­s, friends and families traveling this Yuletide for business or leisure are not stranded or suffer unreasonab­le hike in fares for poor service

“Our position having gone through the review is to continue to maintain our operationa­l efficiency which we have come to be known for, and we wish to sincerely apologize to our guests for the slight disruption in flights during the course of our recertific­ation,” Ezenwa said.

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