By Chinedu Eze
As a confirmation of its improved safety and stability in its operations, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has renewed the Air Operator Certificate, AOC, of Dana Air Limited, just as the airline hopes to get safety certification from the International Air Transport Association, IATA, in 2015.
The airline said it earned AOC after passing through an exhaustive and successful audit of its entire operations by NCAA.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Accountable Manager of the airline, Alberto Mansilla, said, “As you may be aware, the AOC is valid for a period of two years and auditors from the regulatory agency scrutinised our entire operations by reviewing our manuals, safety procedures, maintenance culture as well as the status of our equipment.
“At the end, the agency was satisfied with the state of our operations as we demonstrated full compliance in accordance with the high level of the professionalism of our entire work force.”
The airline said it was one of the airlines selected by IATA in Africa to go through safety processes to earn the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), which is a high safety status earned by IATA member airlines.
Dana said it entered for the IOSA implementation initiative in 2013, which consists of programmes organised by IATA where the company is deeply monitored in and guided through workshops to ensure the success of IOSA audit.
“We are working at submitting fully to the IOSA programme and we are certain that Dana Air will be on the registry by the 2015 deadline. We just successfully completed the 3rd IOSA workshop and are currently doing a baseline review aimed at ensuring our readiness for the IOSA audit scheduled for August/September 2015,” Mansilla said.
He added that the company is working with the representatives of the aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, searching for the best option for aircraft acquisition.
The company, he noted, plans to totally re-fleet, disclosing that hopefully, the first Dana Air owned and Nigerian registered Boeing 737 would arrive after the IOSA registry in September, 2015.
“The Boeing McDonnel aircraft in our fleet are performing optimally and are undergoing deep and complete checks in EAS Industries in France and in Summit Aviation in UK for the engines. Both facilities are reputable and approved by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,” Mansilla said.
