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Northwestern Ontario air carrier re-organizing

A small regional air carrier that has been temporarily grounded hopes to resume service within a couple of weeks.
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The operator of a small regional air carrier in northwestern Ontario says the company is reorganizing, and expects to have its aircraft flying again in the near future.

The Air Operator Certificate held by Kasper Air was suspended last month by Transport Canada, which means the company is prohibited from providing commercial air services.

A spokesperson for Transport Canada, in an email to tbnewswatch.com, said the department "regularly inspects and assesses air operators to verify compliance with Canada's aviation rules and identify risks before they become a larger problem...Inspectors conduct oversight of company processes and procedures to verify that they are effective at maintaining regulatory compliance."

Information on the Transport Canada website shows that since early 2015 Kasper Air was fined for several incidents including permitting an aircraft to take off after it had been subjected to an abnormal occurrence without inspecting it for damage, and for operating an aircraft in VFR flight (visual flight rules) when the distance from cloud was less than 500 feet vertically and one mile horizontally.

Company spokesperson Kasper Wabinski said in a prepared statement that the issue with Transport Canada "is primarily over procedural and legal matters. Our legal team and airline management are working with Transport Canada to ensure proper and long-term solutions."

Wabinski emphasized that none of the occurrences noted by Transport Canada put customers, staff or aircraft at risk.

He said the airline is being reorganized in order to get the operator certificate reinstated.

"We will be up and flying shortly.  We have a new and better team, and will have more aircraft."

Wabinski added that he sees the suspension as "a blessing," saying it's provided the opportunity and time to re-organize, collect accounts receivable, "and charge our personal batteries."

He said that as a small operation, Kasper Air is committed to safety and has proven that by operating very modern aircraft. "Our safety program, for an airline our size, is far more state of the art and modern than other airlines."

Wabinski said that all company employees are currently working in other areas of Kasper's operations, and he expects to resume air service over the next two weeks. 

 

 





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