Can anyone shed any light on what is happenning with this jet?
It's an orphan. It was grounded by the DGAC following an incident in July 2005 when operating a service for Olympic.
The BEA were pretty forthright about their view of the operator in the investigation report. Some extracts:
"The investigation also showed that the airplane was in bad overall condition and that the absence of a framework for documentation made it impossible for the operator to ensure appropriate follow-up of maintenance operations."
"The investigation showed that, in general, there were numerous failings in the operation established by Star Jet. The safety inspections performed at several levels did not enable these failings to be corrected."
"The BEA decided to stop the investigation at this stage, passing on to the international community the task of dealing with this type of operator, whose total scorn for regulations and procedures is only matched by its complete ignorance regarding the basic principles of safety."
"Boarding started at 11h50 without the passengers being allocated seat numbers. Loading was completed by 12h20. Departure was delayed because the forward hold door was jammed open. At 13h00, the cabin doors were still not closed. A mechanic from Star Jet hit the electric closing system of the hold door with a hammer and a chuck, apparently in an attempt to separate it from the structure so as to be able to close the hold door manually. Some passengers, tired of waiting without being given any information from the crew and worried about the apparent state of the cabin and the noise, got up and asked to disembark, and this led to a mass movement. Around 13h30, roughly half of the passengers left the plane. After some time, some of these passengers accepted to return to their seats, while others refused to get back onto the airplane."
"When asked, neither the captain nor the operator was able to produce proof that the captain had been trained in cockpit resource management. It was also impossible to determine the process that had allowed this pilot to operate as a captain, or to determine which checks he had been subjected to by Star Air and Star Jet before taking on this role."
http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2005/a6-m...6-m050704a.pdf