Aircraft of 2 airline firms grounded by ATO

Two aircraft of two fledgling local air carriers were grounded by the Air Transportation Office (ATO) after they figured in a minor collision at the Caticlan airport in Aklan last Friday.

A newly delivered British Aerospace, 146 aircraft of Asian Spirit suffered damage on its rudder when it was jolted by a Dornier 328 aircraft of South East Asian Airlines while parked at the Caticlan domestic airport at around 10:25 a.m. Friday.

It was learned that the Asian Spirit Bae 146 was then parked in the airport’s ramp area waiting for the wrath of typhoon "Reming" to subside when the SEAIR Dornier aircraft that was then maneuvering nearby crashed into it.

Worse for Asian Spirit, the incident had prevented the new Bae 146 from going on its inaugural flight over the weekend.

The management of Asian Spirit has expressed dismay over the incident saying that the damage sustained by their new aircraft will be considerable considering that it will be prevented from servicing the Manila-Caticlan route which is one of their most profitable ones.

"The damage brought by SEAIR during the inaugural flight last Friday of the Asian Spirit Bae 146 jet aircraft is enormous to the prejudice of the company. Due to the incident and consequent damage, the plane was left not airworthy until repaired for weeks," Jack Po, Asian Spirit executive vice president said.