Air National in dispute over operator certificate

Airline Charter company Air National is battling with the Civil Aviation Authority after being slapped with a 10 day suspension order last Friday.

CAA spokesman Bill Sommer said the company appealed the suspension to the High Court, which ruled the suspension should be lifted. The CAA appealed the decision today to the Court of Appeal and the result of that was not known yet.

CAA conducted a routine audit of Air National and the suspension resulted from evidence of falsification of training records. This was considered a safety risk. The air operator certificate was suspended from last Friday.

Air National was founded in 1989 and is a charter airline. It also provides daily return services between Christchurch and Oamaru, and Christchurch and Hokitika for Air New Zealand Link, according to its website.

- NZPA