Dana Air has been named the Airline of the Year 2017, at the 8th edition of the Nigerian Aviation Awards and Presidential Dinner, held in Lagos.
The Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Jacky Hathiramani, also bagged the C.E.O. of the Year while the airline’s Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa, was the Aviation Corporate Promotions Personality of the Year 2017.
Also, the airline’s crew members – Collins Ginika and Chiogo Okani – won the King and Queen of the Air contest at the event.
The king and queen of the air contest is a newly- introduced initiative by the organisers of the NIGAV Awards, where the various domestic airlines’ crew get to answer questions on how they handle safety issues, ensure comfort of passengers and how to be a good crew member.
Collins Ginika and Chiogo Okani also performed their first assignment at the event by presenting cash gifts to an orphanage present at the event.
They have also become ambassadors of the NIGAV awards and will represent the industry at various aviation events for their intelligent display at the awards and mastery of civil aviation regulations.
The Media and Communications Manager of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, who received the award on behalf of the airline said: “We thank the organisers of the Nigerian Aviation Awards for recognising our efforts towards providing safe, reliable and affordable air transport in Nigeria, and we wish to assure our guests of our unwavering commitment towards maintaining our standards and upping the ante on all fronts.”
READ ALSO: Illegal possession of arms: Suspects who named Melaye, Audu escape
On the CEO of the year award, Kingsley thanked all those who voted for Hathiramani.
“Our CEO is a detribalised Nigerian and one who believes in the maxim – slow and steady wins the race. His managerial acumen is second to none, and doesn’t believe in noise making but doing things right and creatively too.”
He spoke further: “Our crew winning the king and queen contest organised for the crew of all domestic airlines, only shows the difference in standards, procedures and the level of training that our crew have received. They have also shown great knowledge of the job and smartness, and we are proud of them.”