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FAA: Freedom Air has until April 22 to appeal air certificate’s revocation
Freedom Air has until near the end of this month to appeal a planned revocation of its air carrier certificate.
If an order to revoke is issued, the Federal Aviation Administration will have sealed the end of Freedom Air’s operations in the CNMI.
The letter, an amended notice of proposed certification action, or NOPCA, lists the ways in which Freedom Air has failed to comply with FAA regulations.
FAA first issued the notice last year on May 22, 2014. This amended letter’s most recent information appears to be from last December.
“Aviation Services vacated its principal base of operations on Dec. 31, 2014,” reads the FAA letter. A certificate holder must maintain a base of operations, according to FAA.
The FAA’s public affairs officer, Ian Gregor, said this letter was sent to the airline company recently.
“We have not received a formal appeal from the company. My understanding is they have until April 22 to appeal,” he told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Saipan Tribune tried but failed to reach Freedom Air general manager Joaquin L. Flores, Jr., yesterday. He lives in Guam.
In its letter, the FAA lists how Freedom Air has not had a director of operations or qualified chief pilot since January 2014. The airline also filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 27, 2013, the FAA notes. A Guam court dismissed this last year.
The FAA notes that Freedom Air’s aircraft liability insurance was terminated on March 9, 2014. They also have “not held appropriate economic authority from the Department of Transportation” to operate as a direct air carrier since that time.
The FAA found that the airline failed to turn in within 30 days its certification after operations ended, and as a certificate holder, have failed to retain qualified personnel.
FAA described another handful of violations that can be assumed de facto as operations and a base of operations have ceased.
