All Zest Air planes ok to fly

MANILA, Philippines – The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) cleared all of the 11 aircraft of Zest Airways Inc. for operations on Thursday, August 22, two days after it lifted the suspension of the budget airline’s permit to fly.

Zest Air director Joy Caneba said their fleet of 10 Airbus A320s and one A319 was “released” after passing the safety inspection conducted by CAAP’s Flight Standards Inspectorate Service.

“We are about 82% of our normal schedule,” she said. Zest Air resumed 50 domestic and 3 international flights.

Grounding

Zest Air was placed under heightened surveillance by CAAP on July 31 due to the cancellation of several flights.

On August 16, CAAP grounded the airline’s operations, citing violations of aviation rules and standards.

The violations include the absence of an accountable manager; failure to check aircraft logs, flight manifest, weather, among others; failure to present in the authority the airman license (aircraft mechanic license) during ramp inspection; series of occurrences that affected flight operations; refueling with passengers onboard; and excessive flight duty time for pilots.

Zest Air said it lost P70 million worth of revenues for every day that it was suspended. The grounding of its fleet also affected over 7,000 passengers per day.

The lifting of the suspension came after CAAP deputy director general John Andrews met with Zest Air president and chief executive officer Ambassador Alfredo Yao on Monday.

Andrews said the meeting was “fruitful” as Zest Air vowed to comply with the issues raised by the aviation regulator. – Rappler.com