Akwa Ibom RCFI Laud Dana Air’s Efficiency, On-time Performance

The Uyo chapter of the Royal Circle of Friends International has endorsed Dana Air’s efficiency and on-time performance at its Cultural and Award day held recently in Uyo.

Registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Royals is a social –cultural, Multilingual, and non partisan group with membership across the country and vocations. 

The President of the organization, Royal Uduak Okokon JP, while presenting the certificate and award to Dana Air said, ‘as part of our yearly rituals of always meeting to review our score card and return the thanks and praises to God for his goodness towards us as individuals and as a group, we wish to also recognize and appreciate individuals and companies that have contributed to the development of our state and have also impacted us positively with their services and activities.’’

‘Let me on behalf The Royals present you this certificate and award as the Best Airline of the Year 2018. This is in recognition of your efficient customer service, good customer relations, passenger handling, and timely day–to-day flight operations which has been observed over time to be in strict compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA).’’

Speaking after receiving the award on behalf of Dana Air, the Uyo Station Manager, Ms Anthonia Aneke said ‘Dana Air will continue to do its best to offer excellent services and safe flight operations in accordance with standard and recommended practices.'' 

 'The people of Akwa Ibom are time-conscious and despite the upsurge in traffic across our destinations at the moment, we have maintained our operational efficiency with an excellent on-time performance and amazing customer and in-flight service. This has endeared us to the good people of Akwa Ibom state making us their choice for air travel.’’

Commenting further, Ms Anthonia said ‘Uyo is home to Dana Air considering the number of years we have been flying to the state and our longstanding relationship with the government and good people of Akwa Ibom state speaks volumes.  

'As the official airline of Akwa United and having been the preferred airline of one of the biggest Christmas Carols in the world- The Akwa Ibom Christmas Carol festival, we are committed to only offering the best and we promise not to disappoint. We thank the good people of the state particularly, the Royal Circle of Friends for this recognition’’

Only recently, Dana Air  extended its multi-million naira sponsorship deal for the state owned club –Akwa united FC. The airline in July, bagged a global recognition for its standards in ground handling and also won an award as the Best Domestic Airline for passenger facilitation at the Nigerian Aviation Awards 2018

Air Peace targets Dubai, London other international routes in 2019

Air Peace has unveiled its plan for the aviation sector in 2019, assuring air travellers of packages including exceptional long-haul flights to Dubai, Sharjah, London, Guangzhou-China, Houston, Mumbai and Johannesburg.

The Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, gave the assurance in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos.

Onyema urged staff of the airline to gear up to raise the bar of flight services to the travelling public in 2019.

The chairman commended the travelling public for preferring Air Peace and staying loyal to its brand in 2018.

He attributed the success of the airline in four years to the unflinching support its customers, pledging that the carrier would spare nothing in making their experience truly rewarding, exciting and safe.

“2018 was both challenging and exciting for us. It was the year we upped our record of firsts.

“In the year under review, we launched a number of domestic and regional routes under our no-city-left-behind project on the platform of our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper.

“We also made history as the first domestic airline to acquire and register the Boeing 777 aircraft in Nigeria. We have so far acquired four Boeing 777s, with two already delivered.

“We also successfully renewed our International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate and Air Operator Certificate (AOC) after a very rigorous process.

” We also diversified the aircraft in our fleet with the inclusion of six 50-seater Embraer 145 jets, which have so far helped our yuletide operations in no small way,”Onyema said.

According to him, the airline in September signed a deal with American plane maker, Boeing, for the delivery of 10 brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, making Air Peace the first to achieve the feat on the West Coast of Africa.

“We are sincerely grateful to our loyal customers without whose support, preference for our brand and patronage we could not have made a success of the target we set for ourselves in 2018.

” It was quite a challenging year too, given the dire economic situation across the world, but our esteemed customers supported us through it all.

“In 2019, we are going to implement a series of bolder decisions aimed at giving the flying public a truly exciting experience.

” Already, we have begun the expansion of our flight operations to the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2) in response to our customers’ wish for a better space to serve them.

“This becomes effective Jan. 2, 2019 with the operation of our Lagos-Akure, Lagos-Asaba, Lagos-Kaduna and Lagos-Port Harcourt NAF Base services from the facility.

” All flights under our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper will eventually be moved to MMA2,”he said.

Onyema said Air Peace was
also going to give the flying public a reliable, safe, affordable and comfortable alternative on some international routes, including Dubai, Sharjah, Guangzhou-China, Mumbai, London, Houston and Johannesburg.

” Our staff have been wonderful with their commitment and dedication to duty through the years, but 2019 is one year all hands must be on the deck.

“This is to enable us give our customers the best flight experience on the domestic, regional and international routes and make our dear country, Nigeria and West Africa truly proud in the global aviation industry,” he said. 

Ooni hails Air Peace boss over contributions to Nigeria’s economy, peace

Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Adeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi, Ojaja II has commended the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema for his tireless contributions to the economic development and peace of the South West Region and Nigeria as a whole.

Speaking during a visit to Air Peace Corporate Headquarters in Lagos on Wednesday, the Ooni assured Onyema that the Yoruba were deeply appreciative of his role in the development of their land.

The monarch, who was represented by two of his Cultural Ambassadors, Alfred Oladotun Taylor and MorounRanti Ashabi, presented prized Ife artwork and other special gifts to the Air Peace boss as a “sign of my heartfelt appreciation of your person and your contributions to the throne of Oduduwa.”

The artwork presented to Onyema, Ambassadors Taylor and Ashabi explained, signified the depth of the Ooni’s recognition of the Air Peace boss’ contributions to the development of the Yoruba nation.

They described the gift as one of the most prized assets of Ife.

Responding, Onyema said the Ooni’s gesture was a challenge to continue to work for the development and peace of the Yoruba nation and the country as a whole.

He expressed gratitude to the royal father for recognising excellence beyond ethnic considerations, urging Nigerians to emulate the Ooni’s example to guarantee the oneness, peace and development of the country.

Air Peace, he said, was established to create massive job opportunities, seamlessly connect business and leisure travellers to their destinations and ensure that the country was adequately represented in the global aviation community.

Air Peace currently operates into and out of 14 domestic and five regional destinations, including Accra, Freetown, Banjul, Monrovia and Dakar.

It is also concluding the process of launching its long-haul flights to Dubai, Sharjah, London, Houston, Guangzhou-China, Mumbai and Johannesburg. 

The carrier, which recently penned a deal with American planemaker for the delivery of 10 brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, is now the biggest airline in West Africa.

Dana Air Wins Best Domestic Airline on Passenger Facilitation

Dana Air has won the award for the Best Domestic Airline on Passenger facilitation at the 2018 edition of the Nigerian Aviation Awards (NIGAV), held recently at Oriental Hotel Lagos.

The Nigerian Aviation Awards is Nigeria’s most prestigious air transport development award which has become the benchmark for excellence in promoting best practices and innovation among Foreign and domestic airlines, service providers and aviation agencies in Nigeria.

Mr Fortune Idu, the Head of Planning and Event Committee, of the Nigerian Aviation Awards in his opening remarks said over 100 recipients have so far been honored in various categories for their performance, excellence, innovation and professionalism and we will continue to recognize them as this is the only way to encourage them to continue on the path of excellence.’’

The Commissioner of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Mr Akin Olateru, while presenting the award to Dana Air, described the airline as vibrant and always doing great things. The AIB Chief, who also won the Aviation CEO of the year award, encouraged the airline to continue offering its guests the best of service.’’

The Media and Communications Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa while speaking to newsmen after the award described it as an end of the year brace. He said the airline keeps innovating for the sake of its passengers and the award was a good way to end the year 2018.

‘I will describe this award as a brace! What an amazing way to end the year for an airline that continues to innovate for the purpose of surpassing the flying aspirations of its guests. This award is quite encouraging for us and this will spur us to continue offering our guests what they desire and these includes offering them pocket-friendly fares, Good customer service, On time departures and arrivals, innovative reward system, world-class in-flight service and above all taking them from point A to B safely.’’

Only recently, Dana Air bagged two awards as Best Domestic Airline at DAMA awards and another for its humanitarian efforts across the country. The airline recently celebrated 10 years of service to Nigeria with a promise to cover more cities and acquire more aircraft in the coming year.

Air Peace clears air on Lagos-Enugu flight incident

Air Peace has dismissed reports alleging that one of its aircraft almost crashed on the Lagos-Enugu route on Friday, describing the claims as an unfortunate misrepresentation of facts.

A statement issued by the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah on Monday said the aircraft experienced a change in cabin pressure en-route to Enugu and its flight crew had to do the normal technical manoeuvre by descending to a level comfortable enough for passengers on board.

The carrier debunked insinuations that the aircraft involved in the incident might not have been properly maintained, explaining that the aircraft secured a renewal of its certificate of airworthiness (C of A) on December 10.

The aircraft, the airline added, also went for its mandatory comprehensive maintenance checks (C-checks) abroad and got its certificate of release to service (CRS) in September 2017.

C-checks are normally done on aircraft every 18 months. At the end of the checks, a CRS is issued to confirm the maintenance done.

Air Peace insisted that its aircraft were not only maintained at some of the best facilities in the world, but also had a reputation for spending millions of dollars on each C-check exercise to ensure its aircraft were in top shape because of the premium it placed on the lives of its customers and crew. 

The carrier said in line with its strict maintenance and safety standards, it had retained the services of BCT Aviation of the United Kingdom for its routine maintenance programme on ground its base in Lagos 24 hours of the day throughout the year.

The airline described change in cabin pressure as a common occurrence in aviation across the world, including Europe and America.

“On Friday, December 14, 2018, our Lagos-Enugu flight experienced a change in cabin pressure. Where there is a change in cabin pressure, the oxygen masks will automatically drop from the panel for use by passengers on board the aircraft. This exactly was what happened on Friday.

"During safety briefings, passengers are advised to pull on the mask to trigger the flow of oxygen. The flow of oxygen is expected to last about 12 minutes within which the flight crew would descend to a comfortable altitude (usually below 10000 feet above sea level).

"Change in cabin pressure is a common occurrence in aviation across the world, including the UK and America.

“Once there was a change in cabin pressure, the oxygen masks on the aircraft automatically deployed. And in line with standard safety procedure, our flight crew performed a technical manoeuvre by descending to a level comfortable enough for passengers on board.

"We, however, observed cases of some passengers who did not properly fit their oxygen masks. A few others, perhaps out of panic, pulled too hard on the oxygen masks, causing the equipment to snap.

" This led to the unfortunate claims that there was no flow of oxygen from the masks. For the avoidance of doubt, the oxygen generators are part of the items of interest during C-checks. So, it could not have been right that there was no flow of oxygen.

“While it is quite expected and understandable that passengers would panic on occurrence of incidents such as a change in cabin pressure, the claims of a near-crash were a regrettable misrepresentation of facts which really should not be.

"The aircraft was ferried from Enugu back to Lagos in less than an hour of safely landing at destination. Certainly, no crew would fly an aircraft that is not airworthy.

The aircraft involved in the incident had its certificate of airworthiness renewed on Monday, December 10, 2018. The aircraft also went for its mandatory comprehensive maintenance checks (C-checks) abroad and got its certificate of release to service (CRS) in September 2017. C-checks are usually done on aircraft every 18 months. At the end of the checks, a CRS is issued as evidence of the maintenance done.

" In line with our strict maintenance and safety standards, we retain the services of BCT Aviation of the United Kingdom for our routine maintenance programme on ground our base in Lagos 24 hours of the day throughout the year. 

“We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused our loyal customers as a result of the incident and wish to reassure them that we place huge premium on the lives of our esteemed guests and crew and will never do anything to put them in harm’s way.

"We have had four years of accident-free flight operations and we are very determined to sustain our reputation and record. We thank members of the public for their generous show of love and trust in us to continue to deliver exceptional, safe and comfortable flight services to them,” Air Peace said.