NCAA suspends Dana Air's operations indefinitely

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended Dana Airlines’ Air Transport Licence (ATL) and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) indefinitely, with effect from midnight of Wednesday, July20, 2022.

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 (Nig.CARs), 2015.

The suspension order, handed down by Musa Nuhu, the Director General has since been communicated to the management of Dana Airlines.

Musa Nuhu indicated in a statement that 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 acknowledges the negative effect this preemptive decision will have on the Airline’s passengers and the travelling public and seeks their understanding, as the safety of flight operations takes priority over all other considerations,” the statement read.

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Kingsley Ezenwa, spokesperson for Dana confirmed that it’s operations was suspended as advised by the NCAA in order to undergo a full operational audit with effect from midnight July 20, 2022.

Ezenwa said operational audits are regulatory and airlines are obligated to suspend their operations when the NCAA calls for it and Dana understand the impact this suspension will have on its partners, staff, passengers and the general public but they are very confident that they would come out stronger as we have done in the past.

“We wish to assure the NCAA that we are fully ready and committed to cooperating with them in the course of this audit and to also reassure our customers and partners that we are safe, efficient and reliable.

“The recent skyrocketing cost of Jet A1 at 830/litre, unavailability of forex, inflation are also contributory factors to this decision regrettably.

“We crave the understanding and patience of our customers, travel and business partners and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience our short absence from the market might cause.

“Our customer service team will continue to operate 24/7 to assist affected customers with necessary information on refunds and our offices will be open to all our existing partners,” he explained.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.