Nigerian carrier Dana Air (9J), following the reinstatement of its Operator's Licence in September by the Nigerian Government in early September, has embarked on a series of test flights in preparation for its resumption of scheduled passenger flight operations in the near future.
Dana Air had its Air Operator's Licence suspended following the crash of Dana Air Flight 9J-997 which slammed into a Lagos suburb in early June of this year.
The crash is believed to have been caused by dual engine failure whose
subsequent forced landing resulted in the deaths of all 153 people on
board as well as six on the ground.
The lifting of Dana Air's suspension came after the Federal Government was satisfied with the air-worthiness of the airline's fleet of five McDonnell Douglas MD-83s in the wake of various technical, operational and financial audits of the company.
"When contacted, the Spokesman for Dana Airlines, Mr. Tony Usidamen, confirmed that after Wednesday’s test flight, demonstration flight will commence very soon as that would finally lead to schedule commercial flight operation. "
The flights are deemed critical in determining the serviceability of the
airline's aircraft and equipment that have lain dormant on the ground in
Lagos since the carrier's grounding:
“This is a standard safety measure taken by the authorities to ensure that all the aircrafts in the fleet are fully serviceable, and we are cooperating fully in the exercise. Of the 5 aircrafts in the airline’s fleet, 3 are currently at MMA2 while 2 are undergoing the statutory ‘C-Checks’ at the MyTechnic engineering base in Istanbul, Turkey,” Usidamen said.
