Dana Air releases Statement after Emergency Exit Door Falls Off Aircraft

The management of Dana Air has released a statement following claims that the emergency exit door of one of their planes fell off upon landing.

Passengers on the plane had shared photos and stories of the door rattling all through the flight and then falling off after it landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

Dana Air, in a statement released by their Media and Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa, to Premium Times said the door could not have fallen without the conscious effort by a passenger.

It also dismissed claims that the door was rattling all through the flight, saying an aircraft, while airborne, is fully pressurised, and it is impossible for the door to rattle.

Read the statement below:

Dana Air’s attention has been drawn to some online publication that the door of one of our aircraft fell off after landing and whilst taxing in Abuja today.

We wish to state categorically that this could never have happened without a conscious effort by a passenger to open it.

By design, the emergency exit door of our aircraft are plug-type backed by pressure, which ordinarily cannot fall off without tampering or conscious effort to open by a crew member or passenger.

We also wish to enlighten the author that, when an aircraft is airborne, it is fully pressurized and there was no way the seat or door could have been ‘shaking’ as insinuated.

A thorough inspection was however carried out on the said aircraft upon landing in Abuja, by our engineers and a team from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and no issue was reported.  There was also no threat to safety at any point.

The flight was only delayed for 8 minutes as we needed to demonstrate to the regulators that the safety and comfort of our guests is at the centre of our operations.

We wish to apologize to our guests for any inconvenience such report may have caused and for the slight delay on the return service to Lagos.