Tonga's domestic MA60 aircraft operations have been suspended from February 8 and the aircraft has been returned to the government, Real Tonga announced today, citing new legislation that took effect on Sunday.

In a statement this morning Real Tonga said that the Tonga Government had introduced new legislation that “formally adopts the New Zealand Civil Aviation Rules in their entirety as the standard to which airlines must operate.”

“A new Act for Civil Aviation has taken effect as of 8 February 2015.”

Real Tonga said the legislation was in line with Government’s commitment to ICAO to raise the safety standards within Tongan Civil Aviation, especially with regard to the Regulatory Framework

“This new legislation impacts the MA60 operation on two levels. Firstly, the Type Acceptance of the aircraft through the Ministry of Infrastructure must be re-issued after the aircraft has undergone type certification in line with and in compliance to the New Zealand Civil Aviation Rules. In a formal report on the status of the MA60, by PASO, the recommendation from PASO was to ground the MA60 pending full and proper type acceptance.

“Secondly, Real Tonga must address issues on its Part 121 operation to adequately demonstrate full compliance to the same rule part under NZ CARs.

“The MA60 is therefore not operating until the two above requirements have been met and the aircraft has now been formally returned to Government and the lease between Government and Real Tonga has been terminated.

Replacing aircraft

Real Tonga advised that its services will continue “and will be introducing a second BAe Jetstream 32 aircraft into its fleet in the first half of March, which will enable the airline to provide the same capacity to the market as was offered with the MA60 aircraft, but will have the added benefit of higher frequency, offering more flights per day,” the statement said.