NIGERIA – Dana Air, one of the leading domestic carriers in Nigeria has received its first Boeing 737-300 aircraft.  

The new aircraft with registration number 5N-DNA was delivered to the airline from Italy.

According to Punchline, a Nigerian daily, the aircraft was received with water cannon showers, from staff of the firefighters of the Federal Airport Authority Nigeria on its arrival at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2.

Obi Mbanuzor, the Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager of the airline, said that the new Boeing aircraft was purchased in line with the airline’s goal of phasing out the MD83 aircraft which the airline had used since the commencement of its operations.

The B737 aircraft according to the airline’s Media and Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa,  will be used to serve Lagos-Abuja route.

Mr. Mbanuzor revealed that the airline chose the Boeing Aircraft as the preferred plane to replace its aging carriers because it had proven to be reliable and was also the most popular among its customers.

 “Currently, the Boeing aircraft is the most popular passenger aircraft in Nigeria. Dana Air went through a long road for this and we have had it as a plan for a long time but it was staggered due to economic and other realities,” said Mbanuzor.

According to the Chief Operating Officer, the airline had plans of acquiring a total of 9 Boeing aircrafts before the end of 2019.

Mr. Mbanuzor further revealed that Dana Air was expecting to receive a second Boeing aircraft numbered 5N-DNB before the end of October.

The acquisition of the new aircrafts come at a time when Dana Air was considering plans to open more routes, in addition to its existing destinations in Nigeria.

 “Dana Air is slow and steady and methodological; we don’t open routes just like that but we take out time.” Said Mbanuzor.

“On the return to our West Coast routes, we have that as a plan; maybe from 2020 upwards. But for now, we are concentrating on serving the Nigerian routes.”

Last year, Dana Air stated that it had flown over 2.7 million passengers in the nine years of its operations.