Reviewing the four mishaps involving Dana Air since 2012

The operational license of a Nigerian airline, Dana Air, has just been suspended by the Nigerian Government and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) following a runway mishap involving of one of its planes.

On 23 April 2024, Dana Air flight 352, a MD-82, left passenger and crew distraught as it skidded off the runway into a nearby bush while landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

All 83 persons on board were safely evacuated without any injury but the aircraft – especially its underbelly – was severely damaged.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo SAN, announced the grounding of all Dana Air fleets, and said an investigation has to be carried out to determine the root cause of the incident.

Again, on Thursday, while appearing quest on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, Keyamo justified his decision to ground operations of Dana Air, saying an audit report carried out under the administration of immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed the airline’s unhealthy status.

Speaking on programme, he said: “I am sure you have heard consistent incidents involving Dana Air before I came into office.

“I am sure you heard that, at a point, on approach to the runway, the door of its (Dan Air) aircraft flew open.

‘’I am sure you know that popular incident. Who are the engineers that are supposed to look at this if the door of an aircraft flew open?

“There were internal reports before I came in under my predecessor that showed a series of infractions by the airline, and the conclusion was that they were not healthy enough to fly. What they did, how they did it before they told them to start flying again, we don’t know.

‘’While we argue back and forth about who has power, my point is that the flying public is at risk, and if any tragic incident happens, it is the Minister that would be called. Nigerians will not spare the minister.

“The last thing I want to happen to me as Aviation Minister is to have blood on my hands. I mean the blood of innocent Nigerians caused by negligence or deep complicity of those who are supposed to be regulators of the aviation industry.

‘’As minister, my job is to supervise them, and to ensure they carry out their duties. My job is not to regulate. For those quoting the laws, they should know that I know the law more than they do.”

As reported by Diaspora Digital Media, NCAA had also cited safety concerns as reason why it grounded the airline.

Tale of mishaps

Dana Air, founded in 2008, has experienced some mishaps in its operations so far in Nigeria.

*On 3 June 2012, a Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operating as Flight 0992 crashed into a two-story building at Iju Railway, Ishaga, a suburb of Lagos.

All 153 people on the aircraft were killed.

Following the crash, all flights by Dana Air were halted by NCAA.

It was discovered that the aircraft was 21 years old as at when the crash occured.

*On 7 February 2018, a Dana Air flight landed in Abuja and was taxiing on the runway when one of the emergency exit doors fell off.

No casualties resulted from the incident.

Passengers testified that the door shook and rattled throughout the flight.

The airline, however, claimed that the door could not have fallen off without a deliberate attempt to open it by a passenger.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority instituted an investigation into the incident to determine what exactly happened but report of the investigation was not made public.

*On 20 February 2018, a Dana Air MD-83 with registration 5N-SRI veered off the runway at Port-Harcourt international airport during a night landing.

There were no casualties, but the aircraft suffered significant damage.

Both the airline and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria claimed the cause of the accident was poor weather as there was torrential rain at the time of the landing.

*On 23 April 2024, Dana Air flight 352, a MD-82, skidded off the runway while landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

No one of the 83 people on board was injured, but the aircraft was severely damaged.

Dana Air Flight 0992 was a scheduled Nigerian domestic passenger flight from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria.

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