On April 24, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) announced it was suspending the operations of Dana Air, a domestic airline operator, due to safety concerns.
The notice was issued a day after a Dana Air plane, a McDonnell Douglas (MD-83) with registration number 5N-BKI, skidded off the runway at the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. Dana Air responded by stating that the plane had been grounded for investigation.
The airline’s management added that they had updated the NCAA and the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) about the incident and the safety of the 83 passengers the aircraft had onboard.
However, it didn’t end there. Following Dana Air’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) suspension, many passengers began requesting refunds for cancelled flights to various destinations across the country.
READ ALSO: Dana Air Fails to Make N224,170 Refund to Lagos Resident Since 2022
Almost everyone who had an upcoming trip with the airline received this message, “Dear Esteemed Customer, Dana Air regrets to inform you that your flight has been cancelled due to the NCAA operational audit. Please note that we are working with the NCAA to ensure that this is resolved soonest.“
FIJ’s check on Wednesday showed that Dana Air’s X account had been deactivated.
FIJ has received several complaints from customers whose funds are currently trapped with the airline. These customers reached out to the airline themselves before reporting to FIJ but they all got a uniform response: “The refund process is ongoing”.
Some have been lucky to get a refund but others still have their money trapped in the airline’s coffers.
A DOZEN AND ONE REFUND STORIES
On August 10, Sulton Hamzat, a Lagos resident, reported to FIJ that her N131,544 was trapped with the airline after it cancelled her Lagos-Abuja flight.
In her case, her April 30 trip was only five days away when the airline announced that her trip had been cancelled and that she could file for a refund.
Hamzat said she immediately requested a refund but, four months down the line, they were still processing it. It took FIJ’s intervention, six days after the report was published, for a refund to be issued to her.
Closely related to Hamzat’s story is that of Ralia Mba (real name withheld) and her daughter, who were to travel with the airline to Lagos for school resumption.
Mba, who lives in Abuja, told FIJ that, like Hamzat, their flight was cancelled four days before departure on April 29 and, when she called the airline for a refund, they assured her of a speedy refund process. But four months down the line, she is waiting.
Yemi Oduneye, an Abuja-based civil servant, also had his N81,000 withheld by Dana Air after his Lagos to Abuja trip was cancelled on April 28.
In his complaint to FIJ, he said the cancellation forced him to make sudden plans with another airline, costing him more expenses.
“This update from them forced me to make alternative plans to return to Abuja. However, I immediately filed for a refund with the airline the next day,” Oduneye told FIJ.
Like Mba, he filed for a refund immediately but he is also still waiting for it from the airline.
In a similar manner to Oduneye and Mba’s cases, Rivers State resident Amanda Ofodum was to travel from Owerri to Abuja to write an important exam and attend an interview when Dana Air left her stranded.
Ofodum who has written to the airline several times told FIJ that she had to borrow money to book another flight to meet up with her scheduled appointment.
“The cancellation and refusal to refund have put me in debt. I had to borrow funds to book another flight because I had an important exam and interview in Abuja, which was the reason I booked the flight with Dana Air in the first place,” she told FIJ.
READ ALSO: Dana Air Cancels Round Trip, Withholds Passenger’s N129,600 Refund 4 Months Later
And currently, alongside others, Ofodum is waiting for the airline to release her N129,600.
Aside from these direct complaints, FIJ also found more on X from users whose monies were trapped with Dana Air after their flights were cancelled as a result of the NCAA’s operational audit of the same airline.
On August 5, @TostosofCanada Oluwatosin shared that eight flight tickets for herself and her family, amounting to over N500,000 had been withheld by Dana Air since April.
“Meanwhile, Dana Air cancelled I(sic) and my family’s flights since April. Eight tickets and till today, Dana Air has been missing in action and refused to refund over N500,000. We have sent several emails and gone to their office but still can’t reach them. Who do I even complain to?” she wrote.
Sunday Abah, another X user, shared on August 17 that, despite constant communication with the airline after a cancelled flight, he was yet to hear from them.
@FyneMarket NewGeneration also tweeted that they had been unable to recover the money for a round trip to Lagos from Dana Air after the airline’s AOC was suspended.
“Despite my requests, they’ve failed to refund my money or communicate with me,” they posted.
On his part, Olutobi Muyiwa-Oni on August 8 said he was yet to receive a refund from the airline four months after cancelling his tickets for a round trip.
“Only in Nigeria will an airline cancel a (round trip) flight and refuse to refund customers after four months. Dana Air, please refund my money,” he said.
@jamie_970 King James also expressed his frustration when he asked what measures the airline is taking to ensure that every customer affected by the flight cancellation gets their money.
“What measures are in place to ensure Dana Air refund their customer for flight cancellation? I’ve applied for a refund since April 2024, [but to] date I’ve not been refunded.”
Taiwo Adeniyi said they had contacted the airline since April 21 for a refund but they were yet to receive it.
“Dana Air cancelled my flight due to its suspension in April. I was contacted to provide details and booking information for a refund which I did via email and the official WhatsApp line on April 21, yet no refund to date. This is fraud,” they wrote.
READ MORE: 4 Months After Cancelling Lagos-Abuja Flight, Dana Air Yet to Refund Customer’s N131,544
‘WE’VE GIVEN DANA AIR TWO WEEKS TO REFUND CUSTOMERS’ – NCAA
The NCAA is aware of the impact of the accidents and the delays in processing refunds, according to Michael Achimugu, the agency’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection.
Achimugu told FIJ via X that the agency has issued the airline an ultimatum to refund the travellers’ money.
“There was a financial audit that showed that the airline was not healthy enough to continue operations safely. The NCAA has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of passengers and will not allow any scenario that puts lives at risk,” Achimugu told FIJ on Tuesday.
“The Authority is aware of pending cases of refunds. We called the airline to a meeting last week, and we have given them an ultimatum to present a proper plan for these refunds. We have also given them a list of all requests for refunds that were reported to the NCAA.
“However, even before the meeting, the airline has been paying refunds, albeit slowly, to some passengers. By next week, the airline will have presented a more detailed payment plan to the Authority. Failure to do so and the Authority will have no choice but to apply ramifications according to the regulations.
“The objective is to not strangulate the entity so much that they are totally unable to meet these obligations. It would cost more time and inconvenience to the affected passengers. So, we are managing the issue to achieve a better outcome.”
Achimugu also noted that the refunds must be investigated before being processed and that the agency has given the airline a two-week deadline to complete this.
He added that refunds could also include customers opting to other airlines.
“This means that a two-week timeline was given because the meeting was held last week and feedback is expected next week. We will reach out to affected passengers.
“Refunds are not necessarily time-bound. We will insist on refunds/reprotection for passengers who reported officially to the NCAA, whose cases justify refunds, and those who would like to be reprotected to other airlines and have their flights rescheduled will be treated.
“It is important to note that a passenger has to have reported their issue to the Authority before it can be treated by the NCAA, and the mere reporting of an issue does not guarantee that a passenger is due a refund. Reported cases need to be investigated and outcomes are based on Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.”
On Tuesday, FIJ contacted Dana Air via WhatsApp for a response to one of the cases highlighted in this report and the airline said it was working on a resolution.
“We sincerely apologise for the delayed resolution of your refund request,” Dana Air wrote on Tuesday.
“Please note that your details have been re-forwarded to the department in charge of refunds as a reminder. Feedback will be provided as soon as possible. We apologise for the delay and the inconvenience caused.”
However, FIJ also sent another message via WhatsApp on Wednesday to ask how much of their passengers’ trapped funds they had managed to refund and if the refunds covered money trapped by their airline before the suspension, but they were yet to respond at press time.
Meanwhile, Dana Air’s April 24 suspension is the second since it began commercial operations in 2008. The first was on July 20, 2022, after it made an emergency landing.
At the time, the NCAA cited the same reason as April for the suspension: the airline was no longer in a position to meet its financial obligations and to conduct safe flight operations.
The 2022 audit by the NCAA on Dana Air, as reported by The Street Journal, revealed that the airline broke several operational rules, including allowing some of its captains to fly with expired licences.
The post How Dana Air Held Nigerians to Ransom After 2 Safety Suspensions in 2 Years appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.