Dana Air has offered to volunteer its resources, aircraft and crew to assist the federal government in the battle for the containment of the spread of coronavirus disease in the country.
Spokesman for Dana Air, Mr. Kingsley Ezenwa said in a statement on yesterday that the decision was taken at a meeting of the airline’s management.
He said the airline had sent a letter signed by the chief executive officer of Dana Air, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani and addressed to minister of aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, announcing the offer.
“As part of support to federal government’s efforts towards curbing the further spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria, Dana Air has offered its resources, aircraft and crew to assist the nation in the battle against Coronavirus.
“The airline in a letter to the minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, expressed support to contribute in the ferry of machine, equipment and relief materials to different states, and locations where they are needed within the country.
“According to the letter signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Jacky Hathiramani, Dana Air will make available resources, aircraft in its fleet and crew for the national assignment and the airline’s crew will be more than ready and proud to carry out the assignment upon request.
“This is a global issue and this is the time for us all to play our part by supporting the government’s effort in stemming the further spread of this pandemic in our dear nation,” he said.
He quoted Hathiramani as saying: ”I am not too comfortable with the rising number of cases in Nigeria, and this is why we also took the huge decision to suspend our flight operations for 14 days in the interest of our staff, our very esteemed customers and the nation at large. The support we are offering as an airline will only be an addition to the efforts of the government and NCDC in fighting the pandemic.
”We commend the efforts of the ministry of aviation, the aviation agencies, Lagos State government and federal government and wish to reassure them of our commitment towards contributing our resources to enhance prompt response to the fight against the spread of this virus.”
