Late tax payments and not the airworthiness of aircraft are the reason InselAir’s McDonnell Douglas aircraft remain grounded in Aruba, the airline said.
That contradicts a report a day earlier in the Curaçao Chronicle and other outlets. And, Dutch civil servants and prohibited from flying the carrier, according to a report in The Daily Herald.
“The ongoing grounding of the MD fleet in Aruba is due to a position taken by the Aviation Authority of Aruba in support of the government of Aruba that took the decision to freeze the bank account of the airline due to arrears in payment of taxes,” the airline said in a news release.
In addition to its seven MD-83 and MD-83 planes, InselAir flies three Fokker 70, six Fokker 50 and two Embraer Bandeirante, according to its website. The airline says it flies 70 daily flights to 26 destinations.
The full news release:
InselAir Curacao and InselAir Aruba are airworthy and safe to fly
Inspections
InselAir is aware of the fact that the Dutch Civil Aviation Inspectorate has recently visited Aruba and Curacao and met with the representatives of both airlines, including their Chief Executive Officers. They requested to perform spontaneous audits to which both airlines had no objections. Contrary to the information being circulated by the media, both local and abroad, both airlines remain until now unaware of any findings from the Dutch Civil Aviation Inspectorate that would have an effect on the airworthiness of their operations.Pleasantly surprised
Upon the briefing received after the audit the inspectors said that they were pleasantly surprised with the conclusion of the findings in all of the following areas: Flight Operations, Operation Control Center, Safety and Security, Training, Scheduling, Quality and Maintenance of InselAir Curacao.
Safety always priority
This independent audit performed by the Dutch Civil Aviation Inspectorate brings to the management of both airlines a further high level of comfort as to the quality of the internal oversights performed by its quality personnel.
InselAir Curacao and Aruba safe to fly
Currently neither of the airlines have major pending technical and operational findings with their respective Aviation Authority. The ongoing grounding of the MD fleet in Aruba is due to a position taken by the Aviation Authority of Aruba in support of the government of Aruba that took the decision to freeze the bank account of the airline due to arrears in payment of taxes.