AIRLINE - SkyAlps in trouble

Italian carrier SkyAlps is in trouble after the Italian civil aviation authority (ENAC) grounded seven of its eight DHC-8-400s. It did so after conducting an audit. Next to that, newspaper Corriere della Sera is reporting that the Italian Ministry of Justice has decided to open a criminal investigation into the airline.

The ENAC audit found irregularities with the maintenance of the fleet. According to the audit, regular scheduled maintenance wasn't carried out and records were falsified. Although SkyAlps says it has outsourced the maintenance, the airline is still overall responsible, hence the decision for the grounding.

As a result of the grounding, SkyAlps has only one aircraft operational and has been scrambling to wet-lease capacity to cover for the other aircraft.

In total, the airline has fourteen DHC-8-400s. However, six of these have not yet entered service. Ten are on the Maltese register, the remaining four on the Austrian one.
Photo by SkyAlps.

Scramble