Dana Air returns Nov 9 after four-month suspension, apologises

Dana Air has announced that it will resume flight operations from November 9, 2022, about four months after the suspension by the regulatory authorities.

It apologised to all its customers, travel partners and corporate clients for the abrupt flight suspension.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had suspended Dana Air’s operating licences after “discovering that the airline is no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and to conduct safe flight operations.”

The NCAA had sanctioned the aviation company for operating several flights on the MD 80 fleet with no licensed captain and its personnel for maintenance violations.

But Dana said in a statement on Friday that it would resume flight operations after a successful conclusion of the NCAA’s audit.

It stated, “We are pleased to announce that we will resume flights operations on November 9th, having successfully concluding an audit organised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).”

Dana Air’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kingsley Ezenwa, apologised to all their customers, vendors, travel partners, corporate clients, for the abrupt suspension of flights.

“We totally regret the inconveniences caused and we wish to reassure them that Dana Air remains strong and will never take their patronage, relationship and loyalty for granted,” he added.

Ememobong Ettete, Accountable Manager/Chief Operating Officer for Dana Air, said with a new management, the company had been positioned to offer safe flights to travellers.

He said, “The audit for us was a re-engineering and restructuring process and having successfully concluded the audit and an extensive one at that for the second time.

“And with a new management team fully in charge, we are now well positioned despite the current challenges and hostile economic environment, and concentrating fully on strengthening our operations efficiently for sustainable growth while still offering safe, reliable and exciting flying experience to our loyal guests.

“As a proudly Nigerian brand with Nigerians at the helm of affairs and with over 14 years’ [of] service to the Nigerian flying public, we remain eternally grateful to our customers, travel partners, clients and vendors for keeping faith with us while the audit lasted and we would never take your loyalty and support for granted as it means a lot to us.

“We wish to also express our profound gratitude to the NCAA for the painstaking Audit process and the professionalism exhibited by the team of inspectors and also the management personnel who stayed sometimes beyond their official closing times to see that we do what is needed to be done properly and in good time during the course of the audit process.

“This audit has repositioned us as a vibrant and resilient brand and it’s turned out really good for us and for the industry at large. This is also highly recommended for all domestic airlines for the good of the industry.

“For customers with unused tickets, and as a little token for our short absence from the market, we have extended their validity for one year, a transfer option is also available to them and we shall be offering competitive fares as always, and gifting free tickets onboard our flights for the next 30 days from November 9th.”