The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced the suspension of Dana Airlines’ Air Transport Licence (ATL) and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) indefinitely, with effect from midnight of Wednesday, 20th July, 2022.
The suspension comes just days after a Dana Airlines aircraft made an emergency landing in Abuja and the authority has confirmed the suspension as relating to both economic and safety concerns.
Captain Musa Nuhu, the NCAA’s Director General communicated in a statement: “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.”
Dana Airlines responded with its own statement to confirm the suspension which comes in the same week that another Nigerian airline, Aero Contractors voluntarily suspended its scheduled passenger operations due to capacity constraints
“Our operations have been suspended as advised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) in order to undergo a full operational audit with effect from midnight 20th July, 2022,” the Dana Air statement said.
The Nigerian aviation industry is under severe pressure with skyrocketing oil prices and scarcity of forex testing the resilience of operators.
