Balloon firm to appeal grounding

A Christchurch hot-air balloon company will appeal a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) flying ban it says is "completely unjustified".

Balloon Adventures Up, Up and Away Ltd was last week banned from operating in New Zealand by a CAA "notice of prohibition", which indefinitely stopped the company from flying any of its seven hot air balloons, The Press reported.

The grounding followed "serious safety concerns" discovered in safety audits and spot checks, with the CAA alleging the company breached several minimum safety standards and carried out unauthorised maintenance.

Civil Aviation director Steve Douglas said Balloon Adventures Up, Up and Away Ltd should not be carrying fare-paying passengers because it presented a threat to people's safety.

The company's managing director, Hal Tapley, said an appeal would be lodged in the district court in the next few days.

He believed the business would be proven innocent of all the CAA's accusations, calling the CAA's case "completely inaccurate and completely unjustified".

He said the ban was costing the company thousands of dollars in cancelled bookings, and the company's four staff and two contractors had little to do.

In 1995, when the company was called Balloon Adventures, Peter Kollar, a then-director, was piloting a company balloon that ditched in the sea off Waimairi Beach in Christchurch drowning three tourists.

Mr Kollar later went to the United Arab Emirates five years ago, saying he was the victim of a vendetta by the New Zealand aviation authorities.

This week, he left the UAE in the wake of another fatal hot air balloon crash which saw his Polish pilot sentenced to a year in prison, ordered to pay compensation to two tourists killed, and his balloon adventures company grounded.

- NZPA