Originally Posted by
Ottobrun
no idea who wrote this about Air Niugini but I have no doubt the basic content is correct BUT there many totally incorrect statements there.
As any professional aviator should know, ICAO has no power to ground an airline. That. Can only be done by the national CAA. The IOSA audit is NOT done by ICAO but by IATA and could disqualify Air Niugini from IATA membership, but again, IATA cannot ground an airline.!
If the writer means that ICAO will be conducting a USOAP - CMA audit then it will be on the CAA and not on the airline directly. All findings from that audit will then go to the Minister for Aviation to take appropriate action and to prepare corrective action plans!!! l
Then the risk for PNG is that if the local CASA is unwilling/unable to get the airline compliant, PNG commercial flights could be limited to domestic only. ICAO has no power to stop that, but by downgrading a country’s regulator, ICAO can effectively shut down international flying of designated airlines. It’s one of the very few weapons ICAO has against corruption and collusion between ministries, regulators and operators.