In line with the social distancing guideline on Covid-19, Dana Air has announced that it will keep the middle seats on all its aircraft empty upon resumption of flights.

Obi Mbanuzuo, the accountable manager of Dana Air said Dana Air will commence this initiative when flights resume, maintain it for a while and listen to the feedback from the airline’s customers.

According to him ”Majority of our aircraft are configured with mainly three seats in a row, on either side of the aisle, so when we resume flights anytime soon, we will keep the middle seats empty so passengers can sit on the window and aisle seats to ensure some physical distancing onboard all our flights.

”This is just to give our guests some sense of security about their health and well-being when flying with us immediately after the pandemic and it will be for sometime, while we continue to review feedback from our guests on their thoughts, but we believe it what customers might like to see.”

Obi stated that ”our first concern is the safety and well-being of our staff and customers and we have made firm arrangements to ensure that our thorough cleaning and disinfection program continues. We are taking this seriously as we do not know how long this will last.”

On the impact of Covid-19 on domestic airlines, Obi said, ”domestic airlines have lost over 360B to this pandemic and still counting. we do not know when it will be over.”

”There charges, fees, allowances, salaries, aircraft leases, taxes all pending and over 100 aircraft parked nationwide without generating a dime. The VAT which contributes to the high cost of airfares is yet to be removed. These are the issues and the government needs to seriously consider helping airlines to survive this trying time.” he added.

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.

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