PANA
Lagos, Nigeria – The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the operations of local Dana Air so the regulatory agency can conduct an operational audit on the airline, the local media reported Monday.
NCAA’s action on Sunday evening came 24 hours after the regulators also suspended the operations of another local operator, Associated Airlines, following the crash of one of its planes in Lagos last Thursday.
Sunday’s suspension of Dana Air’s operations marked the third time the NCAA would ground the airline since its MD-83 plane crashed in Lagos 3 June 2012, killing 163 people.
Two days after the crash, Dana Air was grounded for seven months. After resuming operations, the airline’s operation was again suspended for several days on 17 March 2013.
The regulators have come under pressure following a rash of air incidents in Nigeria in recent times.
Following the crash in Lagos last Thursday of an Associated Airline’s Embraer 120 plane that left 13 people dead, a chartered Kabo Airlines Boeing 747 plane carrying Muslim Pilgrims burst its tyres during landing in the northern city of Sokoto.
On Sunday night, Nigeria’s Accident Investigations Bureau (AIB) announced the commencement of investigation into the Sokoto incident.
“The AIB investigators have been dispatched to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident to determine the probable cause,” AIB Spokesman Tunji Oketunbi said in a statement.
