NIGERIA: Nigerian plane crash has raised real safety concerns in Africa's aviation industry that must be tackled quickly, according to a South Africa aviation expert

Record ID: 235671

  • Title: NIGERIA: Nigerian plane crash has raised real safety concerns in Africa's aviation industry that must be tackled quickly, according to a South Africa aviation expert
  • Date: 9th June 2012
  • Summary: LAGOS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BUILDING AND CONTROL TOWER VARIOUS PLANES ON THE TARMAC (INCLUDING ARIK AIRLINES) VARIOUS JOURNALIST AT A BRIEFING BY DANA AIR MANAGEMENT DANA MANAGEMENT TEAM TAKING QUESTIONS FROM JOURNALISTS JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACKY HATHIRAMANI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DANA AIR, SAYING: "We buy from very reputable sources, as you Iberia are an airline themselves the brand of the aeroplane you know is an MD-80 there are nearly 900 of these flying currently internationally, more than half of them are owned and operated by American airlines like Delta Airlines, in fact the average age of those air crafts are even more than ours, even the age our fleet is not considered to be an issue at all because even with in the country here you have air crafts flying more than the age of the aircraft." JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 7, 2012) (REUTERS) PLANE ON THE TARMAC (SOUNDBITE) (English) GUY LEITCH, SAYING: "Pirate parts are a very real issue that requires the regulator to stamp out, we don't know that pirate parts were a problem in this particular case but there is a real a concern on the part of the fare paying public that the airliners might not be maintained to the standards they should be." LAGOS, NIGERIA (JUNE 7, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) OSCAR WILSON, DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS, DANA AIR, SAYING "There was a mayday call that we have an engine failure, now we don't know if it is one or two, the investigation will have to specify that, it all specification we don't know the exact words that were after the mayday call." LAGOS, NIGERIA (JUNE 3, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PLANE CRASH SITE
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, Nigeria
  • City:
  • Country: South Africa Nigeria
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVA1YQDYRALWUKYZS4U910NXVG17
  • Story Text: The Nigerian plane crash on Sunday (June 3) that killed all the 153 people on board has raised real safety concerns in Africa's aviation industry and requires to be tackled quickly, a South Africa aviation expert said on Thursday The Boeing McDonnell Douglas MD-83, operated by privately owned domestic airline Dana Air, hit an apartment block, killing all people on board and probably six people on the ground Guy Leitch, an aviation expert in Johannesburg, said safety concerns remain a challenge for Africa, as was highlighted by the Nigerian crash, the worst air disaster in 20 years.
    "Africa has less then 10 percent civl aviation traffic but Africa has well over 40 percent of the total accident rate, so the accident rate is completely disproportionate to the amount of flights, and that again goes to the issue of all the air crafts flying less well trained crews, in less well regulated environment," he said.
    On Thursday Nigerian daily newspapers such as Punch ran details of the fleet of air crafts operating in the country showing that some were as old as 30.2 years old.
    Many Nigerians have blamed ageing and poor maintenance of air crafts for the air crashes that besiege them.
    But Jacky Hathiramani, Chief Executive Dana Air, told journalists in Lagos that his fleet was well maintained by qualified personnel.
    "We buy from very reputable sources, as you Iberia are an airline themselves the brand of the aeroplane you know is an MD-80 there are nearly 900 of these flying currently internationally, more than half of them are owned and operated by American airlines like Delta Airlines, in fact the average age of those aircrafts are even more than ours, even the age our fleet is not considered to be an issue at all because even with in the country here you have aircrafts flying more than the age of the aircraft," he said.
    However, aviation experts say that due to high custom duties placed on aircraft spare parts by some African countries, there could be a possibility that some fleet managers are tempted to spend less by buying pirated parts which eventually fail.
    "Pirate parts are a very real issue that requires the regulator to stamp out, we don't know that pirate parts were a problem in this particular case but there is a real a concern on the part of the fare paying public that the airliners might not be maintained to the standards they should be," said Leitch.
    Oscar Wilson, Director of Flight Operations, Dana Air said on Thursday the pilot of Sunday's crash had reported engine failure just before it went down, but it was not clear if one or two engines had failed.
    "There was a mayday call that we have an engine failure, now we don't know if it is one or two, the investigation will have to specify that, it all specification we don't know the exact words that were after the mayday call," he said.
    He added that all the planes used by Dana have been tested to ensure they can fly on just one engine, in accordance with international norms and that Iberia Airlines, owned by International Airlines Group , was in charge of maintenance.
    The Nigerian government has set up panels to review the safety of all airlines in the country and suspended Dana Air's air licence indefinitely.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register