BARRIER AVIATION'S RESPONSE: Here is the response from Barrier Aviation's Managing Director, David Kilin, in relation to CASA's decision to ground the airline.
“Clearly we are very disappointed by CASA’s latest action. We still have a right of appeal and
several alternative steps that we can take. At this stage we are exploring our opportunities with
our legal team.
I would like to make it very clear that at no stage has CASA entered into any meaningful or
productive discussion about how to resolve any perceived issues. We have continually asked
what do they want us to do, but that has not been forthcoming at any stage.
In my opinion (and the opinion of many others), CASA’s draconian approach has been a
personal vendetta against me, hidden behind their catch cry ‘it is all about safety’. Their
PR
machine has been both cunning and manipulative, whilst we have been shackled and made to
tow the line every step of the way.
It is ludicrous to think that Barrier Aviation would want anything but safe planes and practises
for our staff and our passengers. A clean, twenty year reputation and business is destroyed
because of bureaucrats playing out their own agendas yet again. Every year we have tens of
thousands of flights conducted without a single passenger harmed in any way.
We are not the first small regional airline to be treated this way. QANTAS and VIRGIN are too big
to be bullied by CASA – we are not.
At this stage the future of Barrier is uncertain. We will take stock in the coming days and plan a
media conference for early next week to provide an update.”
David Kilin
Managing Director,