Colombia's airlines are feeling the effects of an invigorated safety campaign aimed at convincing the US Federal Aviation Administration to upgrade Colombia from its Category II status under the FAA's controversial rating of the oversight practices of foreign civil aviation authorities.
The country's third largest domestic carrier, Aero-Republica, is the latest victim of this campaign. Half its fleet was temporarily grounded in June over what appears to be an error in providing information to Colombia's aviation authority, AeroCivil.
'We understood we only had to list all the [airworthiness directives] for our aircraft and engines,' explains Alfonso Avila, AeroRepublica's chief executive, but AeroCivil 'interpreted it that we had to include the original documents themselves.' The grounding cost AeroRepublica 10 days of operations and 30 per cent of its June traffic, says Avila.
Avila was unwilling to speculate on what prompted the action, but another Bogota-based aviation official, unrelated to AeroRepublica, confirms that the FAA has been leaning on AeroCivil to flex its muscle. Other sources in Bogota report that AeroCivil also recently grounded a cargo carrier temporarily for late or incomplete filings.
Meanwhile, the FAA has fined Aerovias Colombianas (Arca Airlines) $68,000 for failing to modify a cargo door. Arca comes directly under FAA jurisdiction because it operates US-registered aircraft.
The FAA placed Colombia in Category II in 1995, thereby freezing Colombian capacity to the US. Rumours are rife in Bogota of an imminent FAA inspection and review of Colombia's rating, but the FAA refuses to disclose its plans.
David Knibb
Source: Airline Business
