COVID-19: Dana Air to keep middle seats empty after pandemic

Dana Air says it will keep the middle seats in all its aircraft empty upon resumption of flights, in line with the social distancing guideline on COVID-19.

Obi Mbanuzuo, accountable manager of Dana Air, said the seating arrangement is aimed at giving passengers a sense of security.

“Majority of our aircraft are configured with mainly three seats in a row, on either side of the aisle, so when we resume flights anytime soon, we will keep the middle seats empty so passengers can sit on the window and aisle seats to ensure some physical distancing onboard all our flights,” NAN quoted him to have said.

“This is just to give our guests some sense of security about their health and well-being when flying with us immediately after the pandemic.

“It will be for some time, while we continue to review feedback from our guests on their thoughts, but we believe it is what customers might like to see.

“Our first concern is the safety and well-being of our staff and customers and we have made firm arrangements to ensure that our thorough cleaning and disinfection programme continues.

“We are taking this seriously as we do not know how long this will last.”

Mbanuzuo said domestic airlines have so far lost N360 billion due to the coronavirus and is posed to lose more.

“There are charges, fees, allowances, salaries, aircraft leases, taxes all pending and over 100 aircrafts parked nationwide without generating a dime,” he explained.

“The value-added tax (VAT) which contributes to the high cost of airfares is yet to be removed.

“These are the issues and the government needs to seriously consider helping airlines to survive this trying time.”