The Nigerian air carrier that crashed and
killed more than 150 people will soon fly again, despite public concerns
about its fleet of aging aircraft, a company executive said on
Thursday.
Investigators continue to probe
what caused a Dana Air MD-83 to lose power in both its engines and crash
June 3 in a Lagos neighborhood. Gautam Hathiramani, a member of the
airline's board of directors, told The Associated Press in an interview
that the carrier has complete faith in its five remaining MD-83s as
airlines across the world still fly them.
“We have no hesitation to fly them
again because we've always had them fully serviced and they're
certified they're airworthy before they go up in the air,” Hathiramani
said. Dana Air said it will fly again only after it has been cleared to
do so by all relevant authorities.
Aviation authorities have halted
flights by Dana Air as an investigation continues into the crash of the
plane coming into Lagos from the nation's capital, Abuja. Its pilots
radioed in just before the crash to say both engines had failed.
Some members of the public are
remain sceptical of the airline and authorities after the crash in
Nigeria, a country that has suffered through a string of major airline
crashes through the decades. The MD-83s in its fleet are all more than
20 years old, an age not unusual among airlines, though planes often
require more maintenance and attention the older they become.
“It's a tried-and-tested model and it was the right size and configuration for the market,” Hathiramani said.
Dana,
an airline that began flying in 2008, relies on Turkish maintenance
company MyTechnic to service its aircraft. The airline once used Spanish
international carrier Iberia to perform maintenance on its planes, but
chose MyTechnic in 2010 as it could have technicians on the ground in
Nigeria, Hathiramani said. The airline flies the aircraft to Istanbul
for heavy maintenance checks, the executive said.
Hathiramani said that Dana still
consults with Iberia, now owned by International Consolidated Airlines
Group. However, an Iberia spokesman told the AP that the company ended
its maintenance contract with the carrier in 2010. Hathiramani said he
didn't know whether MyTechnic offered a cheaper maintenance contract
than Iberia.
Dana is a major brand in Nigeria,
run by Indian families who have lived in the country for decades. Its
holdings also include a plastic manufacturer, a pharmaceutical arm and
other industries. However, there have been safety concerns raised in the
past about its importation of Kia automobiles in Nigeria, with some
complaining the company refused to honor recall notices issued by the
manufacturer. Hathiramani said he had no information about those
complaints.
Since the crash, civil aviation
authorities in Nigeria have come under increasing political and public
pressure. The civil aviation authority grounded Air Nigeria, the
country's second-largest airline, for safety checks after a strike by
engineers. On Thursday, its flights had resumed, as customers in a
domestic terminal at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport
walked past a condolence registry and two lit white candles at the Dana
Air check-in counter.
Hathiramani said Dana Air
continued to call on relatives of those killed in the crash to come
forward and identify themselves so bodies can be claimed and insurance
payments be routed to families. He acknowledged the public anger the
company now faces and said the company wanted both its officials and the
public to know the cause of the crash before it begins flights again.
“They have every reason to know
what happened,” he said. “We're just as equally committed to finding out
the true cause of what happened here.” 
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