Woes are not yet over for the DANA airlines company as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced the immediate suspension of Dana Airlines’ air transport licence (ATL) and their air operator certificate (AOC) indefinitely over unsafe flying practices.
The NCAA had made this announcement in a statement which had been signed by Musa Nuhu, its Director-General.
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Dana’s operating licences were suspended after the authority “discovered that the airline is no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and to conduct safe flight operations”.
According to the NCAA, the suspension takes effect from midnight on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
Part of the statement read: “The suspension 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, 2015.
“The decision is the outcome of a financial and economic health audit carried out on the airline by the authority, and the findings of an investigation conducted on the airline’s flight operations recently, which revealed that Dana Airlines is no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and to conduct safe flight operations.”
The NCAA acknowledged the negative effect of the action on the Airline’s passengers and the travelling public but sought their understanding, stressing that the safety of flight operations takes priority over all other considerations.
In another report, the domestic airline operators under the umbrella of the Airline Operators of Nigeria have declared that the rising operational costs occasioned by aviation fuel price hikes, foreign exchange shortage, among other reasons have the potential to push the base economy flight ticket to ₦100,000.
The spokesperson for local airlines/Chairman, United Airlines, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, gave this hint when he spoke in an interview with reporters on Wednesday in Abuja.
Africa Daily News, New York reports that aside from the lingering aviation price hike crisis, the airline chief said local operators were being compelled to source foreign exchange from the parallel market at high rates due to a lack of adequate supply from the Central bank of Nigeria via the commercial banks.
For that reason, he said an increase in the base economy flight ticket to at least N100,000 might be inevitable for all domestic airline operators if the current situation persists.
