As Dana Air marks its 11th anniversary of scheduled operations, the chief operation of the airline, Mr. Obi Mbunuzuo said the airline would not have made it thus far with its clients and staff “who believe in what we stand for.”
Speaking at the anniversary celebration held on Sunday, November 11 at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 in Lagos, Mbanuzuo said despite the challenges confronting the airline, its customers had always kept faith with it because it does not take the issue of safety lightly.
Dana Air coming this far as a domestic airline in Nigeria has not been rosy as the airline has suffered among other issues incessant peddling of fake news about its operations but for the resolve and renewed passion of its staff and loyal customers who have kept faith with the airline by consistently flying knowing full well that the airline has built a strong safety reputation in the last few years,” he said.
He said 11 years means “we are doing the right things and making the right decisions at the right time.
“We have been methodical, careful and realistic in our steps and we hope to consolidate our existing routes to provide full capacity, seamless travel and options for our guests to travel conveniently yuletide while still reviewing our route expansion plans.
“So many airlines have come and gone maybe due to some incidents in the past or inability to cope with the operating environment but we have been here for 11 years and still counting because of our loyal customers, dedicated staff strength and above all a sound management team with a massive experience in the Nigerian aviation industry running the airline with a model worthy of emulation.
“For us, it has been about commitment, promise and fulfillment and we are delighted to have kept the promise we made to our guest last year about fleet expansion and capacity with the recent acquisition of two new Boeing 737 aircraft bringing the number of aircraft in our fleet to nine. Our guests should expect more as our commitment and promise has not changed.
“We have made huge progress and our recent acquisition means more jobs for our Nigerian Pilots and engineers. In keeping steadily to our robust route and fleet expansion program, we would create more job opportunities in addition to the thousands of direct and indirect jobs already created, train more and improve capacity in Nigeria.
“It has also been 11 years of also contributing immensely to the growth of the Nigerian economy and the well-being of Nigerians with our over 9 years partnership with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and project pink Blue, a cancer fighting nongovernmental organization to conduct nationwide awareness about breast / prostate cancer and sponsoring free screening across the country with over 27,000 positively impacted. This is just to mention a few of the humanitarian drives we have carried out across the country recently and in the past,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said there was still more to do stressing that the airline will continue to improve on those things that endear it to its customers which according to him include unrivaled on-time performance, world-class in-flight service, innovative online products such as the online check-in, self check-in at MMA2, as well as its array of channels of communication with clients for ease of interaction.
“We hope to maintain our consistency and operational efficiency which we have come to be known for and we are already looking forward to another 11 years of glory, he added.
A major highlight of the event was the presentation of souvenirs and free flight tickets to customers.
