The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Cancels Barrier Aviation Air Operator's Certificate (AOC)

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has cancelled Barrier Aviation’s Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) after the Federal Court upheld the authority’s view that it was “not satisfied that Barrier Aviation would not operate aircraft with known defects if allowed to resume operations”.

The permanent cancellation took effect on Wednesday 13 March after an initial suspension of the airline’s AOC on Sunday 23 December 2012.

In the course of the suspension, CASA had conducted investigations that confirmed Barrier “had been operating aircraft with serious and known defects, as well as directing pilots to fly these aircraft”. CASA said the known defects had not been recorded on aircraft maintenance documents and that the operator had a poor safety culture and “placed commercial imperatives before safety”.