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Technical issues ground Air Force’s Helitours flights
View(s):Helitours, the Air Force’s domestic air service, has suspended scheduled flights due to technical issues with its aircraft.
Civil aviation sources said operations were stopped a week ago and no date had been given for their resumption. Helitours is the only service that offered scheduled flights to Jaffna after having edged other operators out of business with lower prices.
Helitours had been operating scheduled flights with two Chinese-built MA60 aircraft. The booking office said the planes were grounded due to technical issues but did not elaborate.
The company is still offering charter flights on two other aircraft — a Harbin Y-12 and a Bell 412 helicopter — but declares outright to prospective passengers that no insurance cover is available for these aircraft.
A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said Helitours had two MA60s in operation but that one was grounded for a maintenance check and inspection which was not yet finished while the other had “developed an airworthiness issue, a technical snag”.
“The decision to ground their aircraft was taken by Helitours. They may rectify matters within a week or two. We cannot be monitoring their day-to-day operations,” he said.
“We now see that systems are working within the airline (Helitours) when compared with the past and we are happy with the development,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority has advised Helitours to come up with better aircraft if they were interested in doing a “regular, profitable, reliable operation”. That, however, is a decision that would have to be taken in tandem with the relevant Government authorities.