Amidst Safety Violations
25 May 2015
The Regional Trial Court of Pasay City has cut short the regulatory authority of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for 20 days after it granted temporary restraining order forbidding the agency to ground Magnum Air, better known as Skyjet.
And that means flight safety is to be determined by the courts as it found the May 18 suspension Order "premature" without prior investigation and examination of the aircraft.
This is the first time in Philippine aviation history that an airline operator questioned the legality of a suspension order from Civil Aviation Authority concerning safety issues.
Skyjet has been found by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to be deficient in eight areas of safety regulations provided under Philippine Civil Aviation Regulations (PCAR) ranging from flight data monitoring, quality control, airworthiness, and maintenance control.
EASA inspected Skyjet's compliance from April 16-24, 2015 as they examined CAA's safety oversight of Philippine carriers.
In the complaint by Skyjet, CAAAP issued a suspension order on May 15 on the basis of intensive investigation conducted by the agency but it cannot present the basis of its investigation to the airline concerned and that its suspension was premature and without basis.
Director General William Hotchkiss III maintained that Skyjet was already notified of their shortcomings last year but failed to rectify the issue and it took EASA audit to blow them out in the open which resulted to the suspension of their Airline Operators Certificate (AOC).
Magnum Air President Dino Reyes Chua stated that the airlines undue grounding by CAAP has caused them irreparable injury and damage by stranding 2,600 affected passengers and lost business opportunity to the tune of 20 million pesos.
Skyjet operates a pair of BAE146-100 planes and D328 for flights to Basco, Caticlan, and Busuanga.
Massive airline complaints is validating the EASA and CAAP findings. Horror stories can be read here.
25 May 2015
The Regional Trial Court of Pasay City has cut short the regulatory authority of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) for 20 days after it granted temporary restraining order forbidding the agency to ground Magnum Air, better known as Skyjet.
And that means flight safety is to be determined by the courts as it found the May 18 suspension Order "premature" without prior investigation and examination of the aircraft.
This is the first time in Philippine aviation history that an airline operator questioned the legality of a suspension order from Civil Aviation Authority concerning safety issues.
Skyjet has been found by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to be deficient in eight areas of safety regulations provided under Philippine Civil Aviation Regulations (PCAR) ranging from flight data monitoring, quality control, airworthiness, and maintenance control.
EASA inspected Skyjet's compliance from April 16-24, 2015 as they examined CAA's safety oversight of Philippine carriers.
In the complaint by Skyjet, CAAAP issued a suspension order on May 15 on the basis of intensive investigation conducted by the agency but it cannot present the basis of its investigation to the airline concerned and that its suspension was premature and without basis.
Director General William Hotchkiss III maintained that Skyjet was already notified of their shortcomings last year but failed to rectify the issue and it took EASA audit to blow them out in the open which resulted to the suspension of their Airline Operators Certificate (AOC).
Magnum Air President Dino Reyes Chua stated that the airlines undue grounding by CAAP has caused them irreparable injury and damage by stranding 2,600 affected passengers and lost business opportunity to the tune of 20 million pesos.
Skyjet operates a pair of BAE146-100 planes and D328 for flights to Basco, Caticlan, and Busuanga.
Massive airline complaints is validating the EASA and CAAP findings. Horror stories can be read here.
SkyJet Airlines voluntarily grounded its fleet Thursday, weeks after a Pasig Regional Trial Court issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) from enforcing a suspension order issued May 18 this year.
ReplyDeleteSkyJet president Dino Chua, in a June 3, 2015 letter addressed to CAAP, apologized to the agency and said the company would ground its aircraft operations starting June 4, 2015 “to give way for the revaluation/inspection and assessment” of CAAP’s safety team.
He added that the carrier would withdraw its case filed with the Pasay RTC, including a “damage claim” valued at P20 million.
Chua said the company “fully understands that safety and security is paramount to CAAP.”
“We also recognize the power and authority of the Director General to ensure safety above all,” he said.