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Dana’s route expansion stirs competition among domestic operators

By BusinessNews Staff on June 29, 2014

The recent announcement by Dana Air that it would start Lagos to Uyo and Uyo to Abuja flights crashed the fares that one of the domestic carriers that operate to the Akwa Ibom capital reduced its fares from N23, 000 to N12, 000.

For the passengers, that is the way it should be; competition should drive down fares so that they could be affordable and more Nigerians who hitherto travel by road could begin to fly.

Dana Air has consistently been challenging the high fares that are relatively exorbitant, as the airlines charge about N25, 000 for one hour flight, which ideally should be about N12, 500.

When the airline resumed operations on January 27, 2014, it crashed the fares of other airlines as two out of the lot immediately started fare promo, so Dana has consistently warmed itself to the hearts of passengers with affordable fares, good in flight service and on time performance.

The airline currently operates the Lagos – Abuja; Lagos – Port Harcourt; Port Harcourt – Abuja; and now Lagos – Uyo as well as Uyo – Abuja and it is known to record high load factor at every route.

When it started operations in January 2014, it contradicted the prediction of industry insiders who believed and averred the airline would fly empty for a long time, but the Chief Operating Officer, Yvan Drewinsky was elated when in the third day of operation the airline recorded 75 per cent load factor and on the fifth day had a full load.

“Competition is actually an exciting moment. As soon as we started, the fares to Abuja dropped tremendously. This is to the benefit of the customer. We are going to have a healthy competition,” Drewinsky said when Dana resumed operation earlier in the year.

He said in spite of the competition, the airline is steadily getting its customers back and that its operations to Abuja is getting increasingly better, adding that it is due to the clamour of the airline’s customers to operate to Port Harcourt that prompted its management to resume to that destination.

“Our Abuja operation is doing very well. It is increasingly getting better. We had some full load factor last weekend, which means we are doing better and in the right direction. There is a huge demand for Uyo. Our customers have been asking us to open the Uyo rout for a long time, so we are responding to our customers’ request.”

Dana Air’s chief commercial officer, Obialor Mbanuzuo said that it started Uyo route in response to the clamour of passengers who are satisfied with its operation and its customer care, adding that Dana is the only Nigerian airline to have been audited by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Flight Safety Group in partnership with its foreign partners.

The airline is one of the 16 carriers selected in Africa by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that would be funded and guided by the world body to attain the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).

“Our customers asked us to start the Uyo route because they like to fly Dana Air. We need to basically serve the people and give them what they desire. At Dana Air, we recognize the importance of Akwa Ibom state in the socio-economic development of Nigeria as a tourist destination and oil producing state, and the need to offer choice of travel to open up accessibility.

We are confident that our recommencement of flights between Lagos and Uyo as well as onward connections between Uyo and Abuja will make the state even more attractive to investors”, said Mr. Mbanuzuo.

[This Day]

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