KEY POINTS:
About 1000 passengers have had their air travel affected after an aircraft fault forced the grounding of 60 flights.
Eagle Air, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, took action to ground aircraft around the country after a routine inspection last night on one of its Beech 1900D aircraft revealed an "issue with an undercarriage component".
The find prompted the airline to carry out inspections on its entire fleet.
Of 14 aircraft inspected with ultrasound equipment, nine were back in service today. Five required replacement parts and would be back in service within 48 hours.
"Eagle Air expects the remainder of the fleet of 17 aircraft to have inspections completed by the end of the day," a spokesperson said.
" The aircraft will re-enter their scheduled services as soon as these inspections are completed and the aircraft are recertified."
The Civil Aviation Authority and the aircraft manufacturer had been told of the development and were being kept informed.
"Eagle Air apologises to its customers for any inconvenience caused by this precautionary measure."
More information will be released by the airline later today.
Eagle Air flies a series of domestic routes around New Zealand that link smaller centres.
The airline was in the news in June after a Beech 1900D aircraft it operated was forced to belly-land at Blenheim.
The plane was on a flight from Timaru to Wellington with 15 passengers and two crew on board.
The 17 occupants walked away from the aircraft safely, although two were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
