Investigations carried out by THISDAY on Wednesday when Nigeria’s major carrier, Dana Air resumed operation nearly four months after it stopped service, indicated that many air travellers were relieved when the airline took to the skies again.
Many who spoke to THISDAY said the return of Dana Air means that airfares would come down, as more airlines join the market. They also expressed hope that the airline would continue with its inimitable inflight service.
Some of the persons who spoke to THISDAY at the domestic terminal of the Lagos airport also expressed hope that Aero Contractors would soon take to the skies so that airfares would come down further, believing that the more airlines that fly the more the fares will become competitive.
A traveller, who joined Dana Air’s first flight, told THISDAY that the airline is his favorite; so immediately he heard the announcement that the airline would resume flight operations, he bought its tickets.
Dana Air in July this year was grounded for technical issues but mainly for debts it owed the regulatory authority, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over ticket service charge and cargo service charge that accrued into millions of naira. The airline offset substantial part of the debts and signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on how to offset the remaining debts.
According to NCAA, airlines are hugely indebted to the agency. When Azman Air was grounded at about the same period, it offset some of the debts and also signed MoU. Inside NCAA source told THISDAY that all the airlines indebted to NCAA must sign MoU on how they would offset the debts.
“Those airlines that have outstanding debts must sign MoU on how they will pay it. We are doing it gradually. As their licence expires we subject them to signing the MoU before the licence will be renewed. Azman Air has signed. Max Air is about to sign now because they want to renew their licence. So they must sign it,” the NCAA official told THISDAY.
Meanwhile, Dana Air has announced that it is celebrating its 14th anniversary by gifting free tickets onboard its flights for 30 days from the 10th of November 2022.
Dana Air said it commenced scheduled flight operations on the 10th of November 2008, with an unrivaled on-time performance, world-class in-flight service as its unique selling points and have steadily grown its fleet to about 9 aircraft with over 9 million passengers flown in the last 14 years.
According to the Chief Operating Officer of Dana Air, Ememobong Ettete, “We want to first appreciate all our travel partners, loyal customers, vendors, and most importantly our staff for keeping fate with us and believing in the brand – Dana Air, without them, there is no us.”
“We are resilient, dogged and passionate about what we know how to do best, which is flying safely, and this is just to reassure the flying public that we are back, better and improved.”
The airline said that there is no better way to celebrate the last 14 years than to appreciate all those who have stood by the airline both in its smooth and challenging times and it would be giving out free tickets onboard its flights for the next 30 days.
”We remain eternally grateful to our staff for being loyal, professional and very understanding in the course of our recent audit. The successful completion of the audit is a huge blessing to the flying public as the generic fares are relatively low and stable now and we will offer superior options, competitive fares, more capacity from now till the yuletide and beyond.”
Dana Air is one of Nigeria’s leading airlines with a varied fleet of Boeing aircraft and daily flights from Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Owerri.
On Wednesday when it resumed flight service it said that it had to start operations after a successful conclusion of the audit organised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
“We are pleased to announce that we will resume flights operations on November 9th, having successfully concluded an audit organised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
The Accountable Manager/ Chief Operating Officer of Dana Air, Ememobong Ettete 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.”
He continued, ”As a proudly Nigerian brand with Nigerians at the helm of affairs and with over 14 years 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.”
The airline said the audit repositioned it as a vibrant and resilient brand and it turned out really good for the airline and for the industry at large and recommending the audit 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,” the airline said.
