Dana Air back in business

Nigerian airline Dana resumed flights on Friday for the first time since a 3 June, 2012 crash on the outskirts of Lagos killed 159 people in one of the nation’s worst air disasters.

“We resumed flight operations this morning. I have just boarded with passengers for the first commercial flight from Lagos to Abuja,” Dana Air spokesman Tony Usidamen said.

Nigerian aviation authorities suspended the operating licence of the airline on June 5, two days after it crashed in a neighbourhood of Lagos, a city of some 15 million people, after the plane’s two engines failed mid-air.

The licence was restored in September in what the government explained was its “satisfaction with the air-worthiness of the airline after a rigorous technical, operational and financial audit.”

Before the accident, Dana was among the most popular carriers in Nigeria, with heavy traffic on its Abuja-Lagos route. The McDonnell Douglas-83 aircraft that crashed in Lagos had taken off from Abuja.