Dana Air in Dilemma over Settlement of 500 Laid Off Staff after Suspension of Operations

Chinedu Eze

Dana Air, one of the major airline operators in Nigeria, is currently facing another challenge on how to settle the over 500 workers that it laid off after its operation was suspended in April this year.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended the airline, when one of its aircraft over shot the runway on landing at the Lagos airport during heavy downpour.

NCAA had also directed that the airline should do away with its MD 82/83 aircraft, which are now permanently grounded, leaving it only two Boeing 737 aircraft.

The regulatory authority said it is also not pleased with the airline’s financials, which according to it could not buoy it to safe operations.

Following the inability of the airline to meet all safety regulations and other conditions given it by NCAA, the airline, in May this year, disengaged its workers without severance payment. Since the disengagement, the affected workers, numbering over 500, have continued to wait without clear directions from their employer.

THISDAY learnt that the founder of Dana Air, Jacky Hathiramani has put its aircraft on sale to raise money to pay off the workers. THISDAY also learnt that a new entrant into the aviation industry, NG Eagle, has taken one of the two Boeing 737 aircraft with registration number 5N-DNA, while the second Boeing is in maintenance facility overseas.

Although it is not certain whether NG Eagle outrightly purchased the aircraft or it was leased to it, sources from NCAA confirmed to THISDAY that the airline owner wanted to use the money generated from the aircraft to pay off the workers.

The Director of Communication and Consumer Protection, NCAA, Michael Achimugu, told THISDAY that the acting Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo, had met with Dana Air and NG Eagle officials to discuss the refund of money to customers who bought travel tickets from the airline before it was suspended. They also discussed about the money the airline owed NCAA and also about the settlement of the workers that were laid off by the airline.

“The Director General had met with the top officials of Dana Air and NG Eagle to discuss issues including how to refund passengers who are willing to collect their money for their tickets, the money the airline owed NCAA and how to settle the workers of the airline that have been laid off.

“The core mandate of NCAA is to ensure safety and security in airline operations in Nigeria. The Director General does not play with any issue that has to do with safety and security,” Achimugu said.

Although, NG Eagle has taken over the Boeing 737 aircraft, the workers of the airline said they have not heard anything yet from the airline, but Achimugu told THISDAY that the airline was doing everything possible to generate money and pay off the workers.

However, THISDAY investigation revealed that before the Boeing 737 was given to NG Eagle, it was rejected by two airlines, which concluded that the aircraft did not meet their airworthiness standard. The first airline (name withheld) sent its engineers to look at the aircraft and after the technical review, declined to take the aircraft.

The second airline also rejected the aircraft when it failed to meet its expectations in terms of engine capacity, as it could not secure the aircraft Airworthiness Directive (AD), which gives details of when the aircraft was last serviced and when it is due for major maintenance from the owners.

“We wanted to acquire the Boeing 737 aircraft, which is now with NG Eagle, but could not because we wanted to get the aircraft AD but the management could not give it to us. Also, the two engines of the aircraft are not of the same capacity. We suspected that one engine is 20KK and the other is 22KK horsepower. This means that in operating them you need to apply staggered throttle. This can be corrected but it has to be done by Boeing and when we approached Boeing for the correction they requested for the serial number, which we gave them and they said it was going to cost about $120, 000. We felt that we would not spend that much on the aircraft. It may be that NG Eagle made the correction before they changed the aircraft livery to theirs,” an airline insider told THISDAY.

The Management of NG Eagle last week announced through NCAA that it would refund passengers who bought ticket from Dana Air. But so far, it is not clear whether NG Eagle has acquired the aforementioned aircraft from Dana Air. However, industry insiders are of the view that for the airline to have changed the livery of the aircraft, it means that it has been acquired by the new airline.

Last week, NCAA announced that NG Eagle would be responsible for honouring flight tickets and processing refunds for passengers affected by the suspension of Dana Air operations.

The acting Director-General of NCAA, Captain Najomo confirmed that his management team had met with Dana Air and its new partner, NG Eagle, to address the concerns of passengers who had paid for flights that were not operated due to the suspension.

“The resolution is that NG Eagle will be taking up this obligation, Dana Air has informed that while alternative modalities were being put in place to treat cash refund requests, passengers who intend to utilise their tickets for travel will be able to do so on NG Eagle,” Najomo said.

A Dana Air insider, however, told THISDAY that he was not sure that an open contract has been signed by the two airlines, saying that maybe NG Eagle may settle the refund issue to the airline’s customers by using the PR number on the tickets.

On the severance package for the workers of the airline, a former senior staff of the airline, told THISDAY that the uncertainty about the whole issue was that the owner of the airline has wrapped his plan on when to pay the workers in secrecy.

“We don’t even know whether we will be paid or when we shall be paid. But we expect NCAA to be up to speed with this payment issue because as a regulator it should be monitoring the health status of our airlines. We learnt that the airline owner can come tomorrow and pay all of us but because we are not sure when this will happen we are disturbed, especially now that cost of living is high,”  he said.

THISDAY also learnt that Hathiramani has not given up on airline operation in Nigeria. Inside source disclosed that Dana Air may come back with streamlined operation and with small body aircraft, like Embraer 145.

On May 11, 2024, Dana Air issued a notice to its workers and asked them to stop work till the airline resumed operation and reengages some of them.

However, the workers have insisted that they must be paid their salaries if the company was disengaging them, but the airline has not heeded to their request.