10th December, 2013
Simon Ateba/Aviation correspondent
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has commenced a full scale operational audit of DANA Air, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Dana Air was suspended on 6 October by the NCAA for an operational audit of the airline to be carried out.
Fola Akinkuotu, NCAA Director General, said the exercise, to last for five days, is being carried out by a team of NCAA Inspectors and expatriates.
“The NCAA team is drawn from the Flight Safety Group (FSG) of the Authority, comprising of Airworthiness Inspectors, Flight Operations Inspectors, Ground Operations, Cabin Safety Inspectors among others,” said NCAA in a statement signed by Fan Ndubuoke, the agency’s spokesperson.
“There are two expatriates who are experts in the field of Airworthiness Inspection and Flight Operations,” the statement read.
Akinkuotu said this is the beginning of a phased audit of all the airlines operating in Nigeria.
“We have put in place this wholesale programme to ensure that all airlines operating in our airspace are safe and secure,” he was quoted as saying.
“The comfort of passengers is of great concern to the authority and investors in airline operation must have a level playing field and an enabling environment to ensure a profitable operation,” he added.
The agency said the report will be put to proper scrutiny.
“It is after this that a decision will be taken to enable DANA Airline to recommence their operation,” the statement read.