Federal Government lifts suspension on Dana Airline ...98 days after the ill-fated plane crash

Dana Airlines, whose operations were grounded on June 5, two days after one of its planes crashed in Lagos, killing all the 153 people on board and some seven others on the ground, will soon resume flight operations following the Federal Government’s decision Wednesday to lift the suspension on its operating licence.

The Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, said in a statement that the airline was being allowed to resume operations because its aircraft has been certified airworthy.

The terse statement noted that the reconsideration of government’s decision follows its satisfaction with the air-worthiness of the airline.

A spokesman for the private airline, Tony Usidamen, declined to comment, saying the airline’s officials had not been notified about the lifting of the suspension placed on the airline’s licence.

A Dana MD-83 aircraft had crashed on June 3 into a residential neighbourhood in Iju Ishaga, a Lagos suburb, about five minutes to landing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.

The plane, which was coming from Abuja, was said to have crashed when it lost its two engines.