The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
said in Lagos yesterday that the operating license of Dana Airline, owners of
the ill-fated aircraft that crashed in Lagos on Sunday has not been withdrawn
as widely reported.
Spokesperson of the
aviation regulatory agency, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said the flights of the airline
were only grounded to pave way for investigation, but that Dana Airline is
still intact. He said the airline has to exist for it to answer questions for a
successful investigation.
“What we only did
was to ground their operation while we carry out a recertification process and
they will remain grounded while investigation into the crash lasted. The
license of the airline is still intact except its operational flights,” the
NCAA spokesman said.
“The operations of
the airline have been suspended but the organization, Dana Airline, still
exist. They still exist as an airline, if we withdraw its licence, who will
answer our questions? At the end of the enquiries, if they are found guilty,
then we can be talking about either withdrawing or revoking the operational
license of the airline,” he added.
But Special
Assistant to the Minister of Aviation on Media, Mr. Joe Obi, who announced the
indefinite suspension of Dana Airline’s license on Tuesday, said yesterday that
there is no need to be playing with words over the operational status of the
airline.
“Whichever one they
choose, the directive is that the airline’s operations in Nigeria remain
suspended until further notice. Government is committed towards investigating
the cause of that crash with a view to guarding against further occurrence,”
Obi told Daily Trust on telephone yesterday.
He also said the
black box of the ill fated flight that was recovered by the police and handed
over to the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has been flown to the US
for proper analysis and investigation.
Following the
Ministry’s announcement, the management of Dana Air on Wednesday denied the
suspension of its licence in Nigeria in the wake of Sunday’s air disaster.
At a world press
conference in Lagos, Wednesday, Francis Ogboro, a director in the company told
journalists that only the aircrafts similar to the crashed one had been
grounded.
“I use this
opportunity to tell the world that our licence has not been suspended,” said
Mr. Ogboro.
“Every time there
is an accident like this, aircrafts of that type are grounded for checks and
that’s what happened. The licence has not been suspended,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday,
Dana announced the suspension of its flight operations, saying it was in
sympathy with the victims. Dana Air management also denied speculations that
top executives of the airline had fled the country since the disaster.
But Media Assistant
to the Aviation Minister, Mr. Obi said Dana had no authority to claim that its
license had not been suspended.
“I speak for the
aviation ministry and what I’m aware of is that the airline’s operating license
has been suspended indefinitely,” he Obi said.
The various
positions expressed by the players may spark a fresh controversy in the coming
days.