Ahead of flight resumption, Nigerian carrier Dana Air on Wednesday carried out a dry run at the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2) and shakedown flights from Lagos to Port Harcourt and back.
Its Media and Communications Manager, Mr Kingsley Ezenwa, in a statement said Dana Air had to conduct the exercise to demonstrate its readiness to resume flights as soon as the airspace was opened.
”Although all through the lockdown, we had our engineers on ground to ensure proper storage and steady maintenance of our fleet for resumption at any time.
“As part of our post COVID-19 resumptions plans, we had to get our team fully on ground on Wednesday for a dry run at the MMA2 terminal under the supervision of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
”After a successful dry run, we conducted shakedown flights from Lagos to Port Harcourt with our newly acquired Boeing and MD aircraft in our fleet,” he said.
He noted that ”uncertainty is a normal sentiment among travelers” and we had to carry out the dry run and shakedown flights strictly to guarantee the safety of our staff and valued customers.
“For us, following guidelines and standards is priority and our customers can be rest assured that as restrictions are lifted, all we will be offering our guests is peace of mind on every flight,” he said.
On the airline’s level of preparedness, Ezenwa said that Dana Air was 100 per cent ready, adding that Personal Protective Equipment had been made available for all staff, crew and passengers who might not come around with one.
He said: ”All Recommended training, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all staff have been updated and concluded.
“All our aircraft are fitted with HEPA filters which filter 99.9 per cent of unwanted particles and viruses in the air. It also helps passengers breathe normally.
“All aircraft in our fleet have also been disinfected as recommended by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and we have an optimised cleaning protocol to provide all-round peace of mind for our guests.
”We advise our guests to get to the airport at least two hours to their flights and also explore all our innovative online and self booking platforms available at MMA2.
”As a customer-centric airline, we are also working on user-friendly booking and reservation processes which will guarantee social distancing and seamless travel for our guests.”
Ezenwa commended the NCAA for the progress made so far, by being proactive, meticulous and engaging the stakeholders in the interest of the airlines, service providers, agencies, staff, customers and overall interest of the economy at large.
According to him, Dana Air is one of Nigeria’s leading airlines with a total of nine aircraft in its fleet, a mix of Boeing 737 and McDonnel Douglas.
He added that the airline was reputed for its innovative online products and services, unrivaled in-flight service and on-time performance.