Dana, Asky Sign Agreement on Strategic Partnership, Fleet Acquisition
Nigerian domestic carrier, Dana Air, and the Lome-based African airline, Asky, have signed an interline agreement to deepen their presence in the regional air travel market.
Dana said part of the agreement includes aircraft partnership deal with Asky to add some new generation aircraft to its fleet.
Speaking during a brief signing ceremony at Dana Air’s Corporate Head office in Lagos, the Group Managing Director of Dana Air, Jacky Hathiramani, said: “We have taken a bold step towards achieving our strategic route and fleet expansion program. With this partnership, we shall be adding some brand new aircraft to our fleet soon.
“We have also had advanced talks with some other notable aircraft manufacturers and very soon, some of aircraft outside the country on maintenance will also be arriving in the country. This is part of our desire to provide options for our guests (passengers) who have also been requesting us to consider some under-served cities in Nigeria. We want to assure our guests of our commitment towards providing safe, reliable, affordable and world-class air transport services in Nigeria.’’
Also speaking at the signing ceremony, the CEO of Asky Airlines, Mr Ahadu Simachew, said: “Dana Air having survived the sundry issues in the aviation industry for 10 years and still waxing stronger, appears to us as the most experienced and well-managed airline in Nigeria, with a very strong, passionate and creative management team. We are happy to have reached an agreement and we believe this is good for Nigeria and Africa.’’
Dana Air has flown over 2.7 million passengers in the last nine years of its operation in Nigeria.