The National Thursday 2 August.
Grounding killed us: Airlink CEO
By SHEILA LASIBORI
AIRLINK suffered losses totalling more than K4million after it was grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), its chief executive officer said yesterday.
Jon McMullen said that was the reason why the company decided to shut down its operations in PNG.
He said their eight fixed-wing aircraft, most of which were based at the headquarters in Madang, were grounded between May 27 and July 23 while the CAA conducted an audit of the company.
The audit came after the airline’s aircraft crashed.
Following the audit, it is understood that the CAA reissued Airlink an air
operating licence but the airline did not resume
operations.
“We have not restarted operations because we have been kept on the ground too long,” Mr McMullen said.
“Airlink is finished.”
He said most of the staff, of whom about 180 are nationals, would be seeking employment elsewhere while others were being retained to maintain the aircraft.
Mr McMullen disagreed with a statement from the Transport and Civil Aviation Department that the airline must give a 21-day notice if it wished to cease operation.
“We have 28 days to inform the department,” he said.
CAA’s deputy director for air safety regulations, Wilson Sagati, said he was surprised at Airlink’s sudden decision and that they were also waiting for the airline to give proper notice of its closure.
He said anyone wishing to operate Airlink’s former routes could apply to the CAA.