18th March, 2013
Simon Ateba/Aviation correspondent
Nigeria’s Federal Government on Monday evening restored Dana Air’s Operating licence saying the airline could resume flight operations immediately.
Joe Obi, the spokesperson to the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, said in a statement that the suspension of the operations of the airline which took effect last Saturday is lifted.
“Officials of the Federal Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) met with the Management team from Dana Airlines today(Monday) in Abuja and deliberated on some safety issues in connection with the operations of the airline.
“At the end of the meeting, the suspension of the operations of the airline which took effect last Saturday was lifted. The airline is to resume normal operations immediately,” Obi said.
Obi said the particular aircraft which had a snag over the weekend is to remain grounded until after its air-worthiness has been recertified by Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft.
Dana Air said it was pleased to be back in the skies following the suspension.
“We are pleased to announce that the airline has been given approval to resume flight operations with immediate effect following the temporary suspension of our operations on Saturday, 16th March, 2013,” said Tony Usidamen, Dana’s spokesperson.
Usidamen said scheduled flights will now commence on Tuesday 19 March on the Lagos-Abuja-Lagos route.