CASA media release - Saturday 4 October 2008
CASA suspends Far North Queensland airline
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority suspended the operations of Cairns-based airline Lip Air Pty Ltd on Friday 3 October 2008.
Lip Air – which trades as Aero Tropics – was suspended because CASA believes there were, and are, serious and imminent risks to the safety of passengers travelling on the airline.
The safety of passengers is CASA's number one priority.
The airline has been grounded immediately. CASA will now make an application to the Federal Court to maintain the suspension for a period sufficient to allow CASA to complete its investigations, up to a maximum of 40 days.
At the completion of its investigations into safety deficiencies at Lip Air, CASA may seek to cancel the airline's air operator's certificate.
CASA has been looking closely into safety problems at Lip Air since September 2007. The airline and key personnel have been subject to a number of actions by CASA, taken to achieve improvements in safety performance.
On 27 June 2008, CASA suspended Lip Air's air operator's certificate. The Federal Court lifted that suspension on 2 July 2008 after imposing conditions on Lip Air's operations.
CASA has since imposed a number of strict new conditions on the airline, and has been closely monitoring Lip Air's adherence to these conditions to ensure critical operational safety outcomes are achieved.
In recent days CASA has discovered further evidence that safety standards within Lip Air have deteriorated, posing an unacceptable risk to aviation safety.
CASA's safety concerns with Lip Air centre on the systems relating to training, checking and supervision of the company's pilots.
Media contact:
Michelle Harris
mobile 0419 296 446
Ref: MR12608