Monday, February 7, 2011

Air National bewildered by CAA grounding



Charter company Air National says it may be forced to lay off staff, following a court ruling which will keep it's planes out of the sky for the rest of the week.
The Civil Aviation grounded the airline, alleging it falsified training records, but the company refutes the claim, saying it is bureaucracy gone mad.
Air National estimates the grounding of its nine aircraft has cost it more than $1 million so far.
More than 40 people are employed by the company and there could be redundancies.
“We've got a lot of staff standing by us and standing by the company a little bit confused to be honest,” Air National CEO Jason Gray says. “But they are smart enough to know that things are looking good with all the aeroplanes on the ground.”
Last week, the High Court ruled the Civil Aviation Authority decision to ground the airline was "not required, and not appropriate”.
But the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling.
The suspension follows a routine audit in which the CAA found evidence of what it calls falsification of records; a claim Air National denies.
Air National is New Zealand's largest charter airline; it has been operating for 20 years, without serious incident, and says it's bewildered by the actions of the CAA.
“I don't think that any of the impacts from a commercial perspective have been taken into account,” Mr Gray says. “We've never been given an opportunity to discuss the issues.”
The 10-day suspension is due to end on Friday; Air National says it's cooperating fully with investigators, but needs to get back in the air before losses ground it for good.






By

NEHA JAIN
www.aerosoft.in                                                                                                                










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