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Irate passengers damage airline’s counter
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Police arrest protesters
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We will come out stronger, says airline
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended Dana Airlines’ Air Transport Licence (ATL) and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) indefinitely.
The suspension took effect from the midnight of July 20, 2022.
The action was made pursuant to Section 35(2), 3(b) and (4) of the Civil Aviation Act, 2006 and Part 1.3.3.3(a)(1) of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs), 2015.
The suspension order, which was handed down by the agency’s Director General, Captain Musa Nuhu, has since been communicated to the management of Dana Airlines.
NCAA spokesman Sam Adurogboye, who announced this yesterday, said the decision was the outcome of a financial and economic health audit carried out on the airline by the NCAA.
The agency’s spokesman said the findings of an investigation conducted on the airline’s flight operations recently revealed that Dana was no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and conduct safe flight operations.
The NCAA, he said, acknowledged the negative effect this preemptive decision would have on the airline’s passengers and the travelling public and sought their understanding as the safety of flight operations takes priority over all other considerations.
Also, There was commotion yesterday at the new domestic terminal of the Lagos Airport, called the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2), when passengers destroyed property of the airline.
The passengers were angry over poor communication by Dana Air on indefinite suspension of its operations by the NCAA.
The passengers, numbering over 100, said the airline management failed to brief them on the airline’s next line of action on possible transfer to other partner airlines or refund of their ticket fares.
While security officials of the terminal manager, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, made frantic efforts to calm some of the passengers, others damaged the glass windows of the airline’s counters.
The angry passengers disrupted activities at the departure hall of the terminal.
In a statement by its spokesman, Kingsley Ezenwa, the carrier said in the face of the difficult times, it was collecting information to credit the accounts of the affected passengers for ticket refunds.
In the midst of the confusion, Dana Airlines has said it will come out stronger from the suspension of its operations by the aviation regulator.
In a statement yesterday, Dana Air said it “understands the impact this suspension will have on our partners, staff, passengers and the general public, but we are very confident that we would come out stronger as we have done in the past”.