Press Releases

Lagos, September 8, 2008

Nigeria’s new carrier, Dana Airlines yesterday received the United States International Partner award for its contribution toward increasing US presence and market share in Nigeria for 2006 and 2008.

Dana Airlines which recently took delivery of two MD83 aircraft from Boeing Aircraft Manufactures in the United States was described by the Commercial Councilor of the United States Embassy, Mr. Larry Farris who handed over the award to the managing director of the airline, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani, as demonstrating special creativity in improving trade between Nigeria and the United States.

According to him, ‘the United States will continue to see Nigeria as a strategic partner in development and growth of both countries economy. “The awards are for companies that have demonstrated special creativity, resourcefulness and hard work in improving trade between Nigeria and the United States of America and we will continue to recognise these contributions regularly,” he stated.

In his response, the managing director of Dana Airlines, Mr. Hathiramani said, “we are truly motivated by this award coming at this time of our airline and we express appreciation to the United States Commercial Service for this honour done to us. It only tells us that much is expected from us and a standard that we cannot go below has already been set with this.”

According to Mr. Hathiramani, “We are expecting two additional aircrafts before the end of the year to expand our routes to include Port Harcourt and Kano. We shall be launching the Lagos-Abuja route soon.” He added, “We are already in discussions with Boeing to order brand new aircrafts, and by the end of 2009 we plan to have a total of 9 aircrafts serving key destinations throughout the country and to regional locations.”

Dana Airlines will soon take delivery of a brand new Bombardier Learjet 45XR from the facility in Wichita Kansas, USA. With the delivery of the new Learjet, the airline will launch its Charter Operations division, an offering to discerning executives who travel for urgent meetings at short notice.

On the business jet front, the New World Carrier has placed orders for brand new Embraer and Bombardier business jets scheduled for delivery between 2009 and 2011. Also enlisted are 2 Phenom 100, 1 Phenom 300 very light Jets from Embraer and one Challenger 605, a mid-size jet from Bombardier stable.

A subsidiary of Dana Group of Companies, Dana Air strives to be Nigeria’s first new world carrier, offering premium services at an affordable rate. It will provide passenger, cargo and charter services between capital cities and regional centres.