Minister tells CAA to get its act together

Transport Minister Steven Joyce. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been told to get its act together after a critical report from Auditor-General Lyn Provost.

She said it had fully addressed only one of 10 recommendations her office made in 2005 about its certification and surveillance procedures.

"In my view, the CAA has failed to understand and effectively address the underlying causes of the weaknesses in its certification and surveillance work," Ms Provost said in the report, presented to Parliament today.

"Overall, the CAA has yet to make the changes necessary to better use its current resources to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of certification and surveillance."

The report listed 12 more recommendations to help it "address the reasons for its inadequate progress".

After a meeting today with CAA chairman Rick Bettle and Civil Aviation director Steve Douglas, Transport Minister Steven Joyce said he wanted action.

"Continuing to not act on these reports is not an option," he said.

"I have asked to receive a detailed work programme from the CAA, which will include completion dates and a detailed monitoring regime."

Mr Bettle said the CAA was committed to correcting the problems identified by the auditor-general.

"A programme of fixes has already been put in place," he said.

"The work will be carried through to completion."

Mr Bettle said New Zealand had an international reputation for its very safe civil aviation system and there had been no fatal accidents involving fare paying passengers for five years.

"The report points to areas where the CAA can improve its performance, in order to make flying even safer," he said.

Ms Provost said the weaknesses in the system included:

* Decisions to certify some operators, despite their non-compliance with the CAA rules, were not supported by enough evidence to verify the discretion exercised;

* The depth of work completed before certifying operators was not adequately documented;

* Surveillance was not always targeted at higher-risk operators; and

* Instances of non-compliance found by CAA auditors were not consistently reported and followed up.

- NZPA