Onur airline claims report clears it on safety charges

Ort für Diskussionen über die anderen Airlines am Airport Weeze.
Place for discussions about the other airlines at Airport Weeze.

Moderatoren: Markus, Rolf

Antworten
White Cap
Senior User
Beiträge: 2386
Registriert: Donnerstag 10. Juni 2004, 15:34
Wohnort: 47652 Weeze

Onur airline claims report clears it on safety charges

Beitrag von White Cap »

Source: http://www.turkishpress.com

Banned Turkish airline claims report clears it on safety charges
Published: 11/30/2005


THE HAGUE - A private Turkish airline temporarily banned earlier this year from airports in four European countries on safety grounds claimed Tuesday to have been cleared of everything but administrative mistakes, the Dutch ANP news agency said.

But the Netherlands, one of the four countries involved, rejected the claim by Onur Air, saying it did not know the organisation which produced the report clearing it, the International Bureau of Aviation.

The report was said to have been financed by Onur Air.

On May 12 Dutch authorities informed the Istanbul-based company that it had been grounded for a month due to "serious safety deficiencies observed in respect of aircraft, operational procedures and aircraft handling".

German authorities followed suit shortly after, telling the company that all granted permissions had been "revoked with immediate effect due to severe safety concerns". France and Switzerland followed suit.

"The fact that the Netherlands and Germany adopted the same attitude within two hours of each other gives us the impression that this was a planned act," Cankut Bagana, head of the airline, said.

He denied charges that his company's fleet of 28 aircraft were untrustworthy.

The bans were eventually lifted on May 26 but Onur Air planes are subject to close scrutiny by the Dutch civil aviation authorities.

Onur Air says it lost more than 30 million euros (35 million dollars) as a result of the Dutch ban and in June demanded compensation from the Dutch government, which refused to pay any.

Legal proceedings are under way in the Dutch courts.

Onur Air also wants an end to the system of enhanced surveillance to which it is subject.

According to the IBA report, as quoted by ANP, Onur Air was negligent in its administration but its planes were safe.

The problems mentioned by the Dutch transport inspection agency were found in other airlines, it said. The IBA concluded that the ban on flights was an abuse of power.

The Dutch authorities said that they did not know of the IBA, a British-registered body, and said that administrative errors could lead to serious safety problems -- for example imbalances in cargo loading which could cause aircraft to skid off the runway.

With a turnover of 450 million euros in 2004 and almost 900 staff, Onur Air is a major charter operator in the Netherlands and Germany.


11/29/2005 20:38 GMT
Antworten