Flyglobespan insists services are still operating despite the Civil Aviation Authority’s suspension of one of its flying licences.
The CAA provisionally suspended Flyglobespan’s ETOPS licence last week. The licence allows the Edinburgh-based carrier to operate twin-engine aircraft over large distances of water, so the suspension has affected its services to North America.
Neither Flyglobespan nor the CAA would give details explaining the suspension, but it is believed to be related to an incident in early summer involving a US-based subcontractor. The CAA confirmed the US Federal Aviation Administration is involved.
A Flyglobespan spokesman said: “The temporary suspension has had minimal effect on day-to-day operations and 96% of routes are totally unaffected. The other 4% have at worst seen a slight increase in time in the air.”
Most of Flyglobespan’s services to Canada and the US are operated by Icelandair and Eos, so only the three-times-weekly Liverpool-Knock-New York service has been affected.
The carrier has had to re-route this flight over Greenland and Canada so that the aircraft is never more than one hour away from an airport, meaning the flight takes longer.