Chatham Pacific's small aircraft have been cleared to resume service to the outer island of Niuatoputapu after Tonga's Minister of Transport lifted the suspension on June 8, and flights to the outer island are anticipated to resume this week.

Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Sione 'Akau'ola, said they had lifted suspension on the smaller aircraft on June 8, meaning the airline's whole fleet is good to fly.

He said although the airline had not confirmed when it would resume flights to Niuatoputapu it has indicated flights could start this week after the Tonga Civil Aviation authority and Pacific Aviation Safety Office approved its Islanders eight-seater aircraft.

Chathams Pacific then conducted a test flight on its Islander aircraft around Tongatapu on June 8.

Emergency Landing

Following the emergency landing that involved a nose wheel collapse on the airline's 8-seater aircraft at Fua'amotu Airport last month, all of the airline's aircraft were suspended. On June 1 suspension was lifted for its two 50 seater Convair, while the remaining smaller aircrafts remained grounded until today.

The airline had complied with the requirement of the Civil Aviation and Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) in relation to its smaller aircrafts and now cleared to fly, said Sione.

In the meantime there are no flights to Niuafo'ou because work is needed for the airport in order to enable any landing.

Civil Aviation

In addition, the Ministry of Transport has stated that the problem with the nose gear on the Queenair was due to a component failure that could not have been foreseen by the operator, therefore confirming Chathams was not at fault.

In a press statement released on June 8, the Ministry of Transport said the Tonga Civil Aviation Department received a report from the PASO Airworthiness Inspector, confirming the problem with nose gear on the Queenair.

The investigation, which completed last week stated there was no evidence to suggest that the operation of the airline is unsafe and recommended that the suspension of the Tongan registered aircraft be lifted.

The PASO inspector also did an audit of the total flight operation and found that the airline was operating to a very high standard and had recommended the Airline's Companies Air Operators Certificate be renewed.

Concern

Craig Emeny, CEO of Chathams Pacific, stated today that he understood the initial concern the CAD had, and their decision to suspend the Airlines operations until they could get assurance regarding safety issues.

"Passenger safety is absolutely paramount and the CAD needed to get advice from PASO and the New Zealand CAA before lifting the suspension. Unfortunately. since the expertise had to come from outside Tonga, the length of the suspension meant many passengers were inconvenienced," he stated.

Craig said he was very pleased with the cooperation of the CAD, PASO and the NZCAA with his airline, and was very pleased with the outcome of the investigation, and looked forward to continuing to operate a safe reliable air service in Tonga.