Officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), presenting gift items as part of their community outreach programme in Lagos last Wednesday

The recent announce
ment by Dana Air Management that it would start Lagos to Uyo and Uyo to Abuja flights crashed the fares of one of the domestic carriers that operate to 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 said it 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 to Uyo as well as Uyo – Abuja. And it is known to record high load factor at every route.
On assumption of operations in January 2014, it contradicted the prediction of industry watchers who believed and averred that the airline could fly empty for along time, but the chief operating officer, Mr 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 laod.
“Competition is actually an exciting moment, as soon as we started, the fares to Abuja dropped tremendously. This is to the benefit of customers. We are going to have a healthy completion,” Drewinsky said.
He explained that inspite 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 customers to operate to Port Harcourt that prompted management to resume to that destination.
“Our Abuja operation is doing very well, it is increasing getting better. We had some full load factor last weekend, which mean we are doing better and in the right direction. There is a huge demand for Uyo. Our customers had been asking us to open up the Uyo route for a long time, so we are responding to the request, he said.
The Chief Commerical Officer of Dana Air, Mr Obialor Mbanuzuo said the Uyo route was in response to passengers clamour who are satisfied with its operation and its customer care, adding that Dana is the only Nigeria Airline to have been audited by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) flight safety Group in partnership with its foreign partners.
He disclosed that the airline is one of the 16 carriers selected in Africa by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that would be founded and guided by the world body to attain the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).