Neha Jain: http://newzealandaviationnews.blogspot.com/7

1. Air NZ To Offer Inflight Voice, Data Service On First A320s
Air New Zealand plans to introduce inflight phone connectivity on the first two of its new Airbus A320s, but is yet to decide whether it will be offered on subsequent deliveries.

The first of Air NZ’s new A320s arrived last week, with voice and data capability to be introduced within the next month. This will be the first time inflight connectivity has been used on New Zealand domestic routes.

The aircraft will be fitted with OnAir’s communication system, and the network provider will be Vodafone. Air NZ is due to take delivery of 14 new A320s through 2016, replacing the carrier’s Boeing 737-300s on domestic routes.

Inflight connectivity will also be offered on the second A320 delivery, an Air NZ spokeswoman says. “We will then evaluate demand for the service before making a decision on the rest of the fleet,” she says. The carrier will not retrofit its 737s.

Air NZ has opted to allow passengers to use voice as well as texts and data on equipped A320s, in contrast to some other airlines that have not included voice calling in their connectivity offerings. The Air NZ spokeswoman notes that the carrier’s domestic flights are typically short, with an average duration of only one hour.

The airline announced last May that its new Boeing 777-300ERs would be equipped for inflight connectivity on international flights. Unlike the A320s, the 777 service will use Aeromobile. The international service will be for text and emails, but not voice.

Vodafone is offering rates of NZ$3.50 ($2.70) per minute to make a call, NZ$2 per minute to receive a call, NZ$0.80 per outbound text, and NZ$20 per megabyte of data used.

2. Air National bewildered by CAA grounding

Charter company Air National says it may be forced to lay off staff, following a court ruling which will keep it's planes out of the sky for the rest of the week.
The Civil Aviation grounded the airline, alleging it falsified training records, but the company refutes the claim, saying it is bureaucracy gone mad.
Air National estimates the grounding of its nine aircraft has cost it more than $1 million so far.
More than 40 people are employed by the company and there could be redundancies.
“We've got a lot of staff standing by us and standing by the company a little bit confused to be honest,” Air National CEO Jason Gray says. “But they are smart enough to know that things are looking good with all the aeroplanes on the ground.”
Last week, the High Court ruled the Civil Aviation Authority decision to ground the airline was "not required, and not appropriate”.
But the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling.
The suspension follows a routine audit in which the CAA found evidence of what it calls falsification of records; a claim Air National denies.
Air National is New Zealand's largest charter airline; it has been operating for 20 years, without serious incident, and says it's bewildered by the actions of the CAA.
“I don't think that any of the impacts from a commercial perspective have been taken into account,” Mr Gray says. “We've never been given an opportunity to discuss the issues.”
The 10-day suspension is due to end on Friday; Air National says it's cooperating fully with investigators, but needs to get back in the air before losses ground it for good.

3. NZ airline grounded over 'appalling' safety standards

A charter airline company whose customers include Air New Zealand and the Corrections Department has been grounded because of safety concerns.

Air National is New Zealand's largest charter airline, with nine aircraft ranging from private jets to airliners.

About 65 flights are expected to be affected if the Civil Aviation Authority's 10-day suspension of Air National's corporate air operating certificate, which began last Friday, continues.

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Air National operates two daily return flights between Christchurch and Hokitika on behalf of Air NZ, using a 19-seat Jetstream J32 turbo prop aircraft.

Air NZ said the service would instead use its own Beech 1900D and Bombardier Q300 regional aircraft to fly the route. No passengers would be affected by the grounding.

Yesterday a High Court judge said the suspension should be lifted pending a full hearing of the case but Justice Denis Clifford left it in place another 24 hours, till 4.30pm today, so the authority could appeal.

The "straw that broke the camel's back" was that flight simulator training records for two company pilots were at least wrong, possibly falsified.

The authority's lawyer, Kim Murray, said it was one of a series of incidents.

"The applicant [Air National] has an appalling history of non-compliance with minimum safety standards and suspension was inevitable when falsified training records were discovered," Mr Murray said.

But the company's lawyer, Sherridan Cook, said if that was true CAA would have acted earlier.

"Documentation issues" needed attention but the authority's concerns were far from the kind of real and imminent threat to safety that would justify stopping flights.

Justice Clifford said the company seemed to have responded generally satisfactorily to issues the authority raised. An investigation was justified, and then a decision made on suspension.

A suspension pending an investigation was more appropriate when immediate safety concerns occurred.

He was also concerned that the authority's director, Steve Douglas, suspended Air National three days after the auditor-general questioned whether authority staff were "overly helpful" to the company.

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