The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the Dana Air Operators Certificate following the ministers command for them to do so, this was contained in a letter issued to the airline by Chris Najomo the acting Director General.
This happened on Wednesday, after Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development authorized the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to suspend the Dana airline, in a letter by Emmanuel Meribole, permanent secretary to the minister of aviation and aerospace development to the NCCA, he urged that the supervisor in charge of the nations aviation safety and regulatory compliance, it has come to the ministers notice of the recent negative developments and incidents at Dana airlines and this have raised issues regarding both the safety and financial viability of their operations.
The letter read that in the lights of these incidents, and with the utmost importance being the safety and well bing of the citizens and travelers using the airline, the minister has given instructions that NCAA immediately initiate the suspension of the airline’s plane fleet until a well detailed audit can be made on the airline, in the letter, the authority clearly stated that prior to the runway excursion at the Murtala Mohammed international airport, the authority will be waiting the preliminary report on the investigation that was conducted by the Nigerian Investigation Safety bureau (NSIB).
While the NSIB is is conducting safety investigation, the NCAA has launched an in house compliance assessment of the occurrence, taking into account previous occurrences that the airline had been involved with in the past, according to Najomo, this is a bid to establish any trend which must be nipped in the bud in the interest of the safety and well being of citizens and travelers.
The secretary further noted that , the minister in sharing the concerns of the authority has shown interest and insists that swift measures be taken to address pertinent safety and economic issues that may hide some of these occurrences, “as a a safety step, and in line with the section 31(7) of the civil aviation act, 2024, the authority has imposed a suspension on your Airline operations certificate with effect from 24th April 2022 at 11:59 to allow for a thorough and comprehensive safety audit.
“The safety audit will entail a reinspection of your organization, procedures. personnel and aircraft as specified by part 1.3.3.3 of the Nigerian Civil Aviation regulations, while the economic audit will critically examine the financial health of your airline to guarantee its capability to sustain safe flight operations” the letter from the Director General read.
