With the recent incidence involving Dana air, the Federal Government ordered an audit be carried out on the operations of the airline.
These incidence include, the airline aircraft overshooting the runway of the Port-Harcourt airport last month and the opening of the emergency exit door of one of its aircraft on landing at the Abuja airport.
Reacting to the audit as ordered by the FG, Dana airline in a statement, says it was a good decision by government and a welcome development as it pledged to work with the team and the FG to demonstrate it commitment not just to flying but to flying safe.
Spokesman for Dana air, Kingsley Ezemwan said, “considering the safety measures that we have put in place and our huge investment in training and retraining of our crew and pilots, we decided not to join issues, but to rather wait on the report of the AIB, the authentic body responsible for such investigations”.
He stressed that excerpts of the preliminary reports by the Accident Investigation Bureau AIB, confirmed that the Air Traffic Control, an arm of the Nigerian Air Space Management Agency that was saddled with the responsibility of issuing instructions that the pilots were required to obey, had cleared the pilot in command to land.
“It is pertinent to note that the pilot of that flight is a happily married man and a proud father of three beautiful children. He has over 30 years experience in the aviation industry and is one of the very best in his profession, meticulous in his duties, and headhunted from another domestic airline where he also served as the head of safety and quality standards”, he added.
In 2013, The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and its foreign partners, the Flight Safety Group, carried out an audit on our operations and in 2016, as a result of our commitment to global safety standards, we applied to become a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), went through their audit and subsequently became a member in 2016.
“Our route and fleet expansion program is still very much on course and we remain dedicated to our recent interline and aircraft partnership with Asky airline, another formidable airline in Africa”.
The airline thanked minister of state for aviation, Hadi Sirika, who had proven himself as a technocrat, and their esteemed guests for keeping faith with them while the incident was under investigation and reassured it’s guests of their commitment towards providing safe, reliable and affordable air transport.