Grounded US cargo carrier Transair is aiming to resume flights from Hawaii later this year, after a judging panel apparently dismissed an attempt to revoke the certificate of operator Rhoades Aviation.
Rhoades Aviation says the US FAA’s complaint against the company has been “dismissed with prejudice” by National Transportation Safety Board administrative law judges – essentially an appeals panel for FAA actions.
One of Transair’s freighters, a Boeing 737-200, ditched in the sea off Honolulu in July 2021 after the crew misidentified a failed engine. Both pilots survived the crash.
The FAA grounded the airline two weeks after the accident, but pointed out that this related to a prior investigation into the company’s maintenance and safety practices and was separate to the crash inquiry.
It subsequently proposed, in May 2022, to revoke Rhoades’ air carrier certificate over safety violations – alleging maintenance shortcomings and airworthiness concerns on 737s.
Grounded carriers would normally have their certificates revoked for dormancy if the airline’s fitness is not redetermined within a year, but Rhoades managed to obtain limited extensions to this deadline in order to discuss its situation with the FAA.
But in January 2023 the FAA issued a revocation order to Rhoades, and the airline appealed to the NTSB the same month.
Rhoades states that, as part of the judgement, the NTSB directed the carrier and the FAA to work together to advance the company’s efforts to resume cargo services – and adds that both sides have agreed to do so.
“We look forward to doing now what we have wanted all along – to work collaboratively with the FAA so that Transair can provide vitally-important cargo air transportation for the benefit of Hawaii’s residents, communities, and businesses,” says Transair chief Teimour Riahi.
Riahi says the airline is “committed” to upholding “the highest safety standards”, and that Rhoades is looking to restore its Hawaiian inter-island cargo service “as soon as late 2025”, pending regulatory approval.
