The federal government of Nigeria suspends Dana’s air license following the walkway skidding on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
The suspension occurred 24 hours after the 83-passenger Dana Air plane with 83 passengers onboard landed at the Lagos airport runway and veered into a nearby field, leaving zero casualties.
However, the emergency unit and regulatory agencies responded to the incident and investigated its course. The NCAA has initiated an audit of the carrier’s operations while waiting for the result from the Nigerian Safety and Investigation Bureau.
A letter with ref no: NCAA/DGCA/DANA/1/24/001, signed by the Acting Director NCAA, Chris Najomo, stated that the airline’s AOC had been suspended.
While awaiting the investigation report from the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau, the NCAA mentioned initiating an in-house compliance assessment of Dana’s track records in related occurrences.
The NCAA letter read in part, “As a precautionary step, and in accordance with Sec 31 (7) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022, the Authority has suspended your Air Operator Certificate (AOC) with effect from April 24 2024 at 23:59 to allow for a thorough safety and economic audit.
The safety audit will entail a re-inspection of your organization, procedures, personnel, and aircraft as specified by Part 1.3.3.3 of the Nigeria 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 Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, expressed his displeasure about the Dana airline skidding.
The NCAA permanent secretary mentioned that the incident has served as a safety call for all airlines and the airport. To highlight the security measures, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Emmanuel Meribole, has ordered the suspension of Dana’s airline operation.
