2 airlines grounded over safety

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) has suspended two low-cost airlines after they failed last month’s aviation safety assessment conducted by a team from the European Union.

Caap Director General William Hotchkiss said that various “safety shortcomings” were observed in the operations of budget carriers South East Asian Airlines (SEAir) and Magnum Air or Skyjet Airlines Inc.

“The public interest requires the same be properly given immediate corrective action,” Hotchkiss said in his order suspending the air operator certificates of the two airlines effective Monday.

In the suspension order for SEAir, Hotchkiss cited a report from the European Union safety assessment team which listed 15 observations on the budget airline’s operations.

The “report yielded 15 observations covering different areas, from management structure, SMS, accident prevention and flight safety program to flight data management,” the Caap chief said.

He directed SEAir to “cease all operations effective immediately.”

In the case of Magnum (Skyjet), the EU assessment team observed eight safety shortcomings in its operations, from flight data monitoring and quality assurance to airworthiness and maintenance control.

He said the airlines’ suspension “may only be lifted upon full compliance with this authority (Caap) and with the corrective actions undertaken to mitigate the safety concerns raised.”

The Caap order was based on the outcome of the April 16-24 visit of a five-man EU safety assessment team made up of experts from the European Commission and European Aviation Safety Agency.

Among the airlines examined were Air Asia, Air Asia Zest, Air Philippines, Island Aviation, Magnum Air (Skyjet), Southeast Asian Airlines (Tiger Airways) and SEAir.–Jeannette I. Andrade and Miguel R. Camus