Zest Air Under Heightened Surveillance, New Leadership Introduced

Zest Airways in under heightened surveillance by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines after the airline cancelled several flights over the past weeks. 

Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG

According to John Andrews, Deputy Director General of CAAP, the industry regulator will be observing the operations of Zest Air resulting from cancellations due to mechanical problems. Reports suggest that Zest Air cancelled as many as six flights in one day and in July, a total of 33 flights were cancelled.

CAAP intends on monitoring the maintenance program of Zest Air. "We will have to check them before they are sanctioned," Andrews noted. But other industry observers are not convinced that the cancellations are due to mechanical problems. Some are suggesting that the airline is not generating enough passengers to operate their flights feasibly which is the true cause behind the flight cancellations as the airline is trying to control costs.  

Andrews indicated that airlines have a habit of cancelling flights with low bookings citing mechanical difficulties or "aircraft situation" as the problem when the real cause is economic. Andrews added that Zest Air is not the only airline under scrutiny and that the regulator plans to investigate all airlines that cancel flights due to "aircraft situation" in order to determine whether actual maintenance and repair activities were conducted on the aircraft. Earlier this year, PAL Express and Cebu Pacific were asked to reduce its number of daily flights to Caticlan after cancelling a series of flights from Manila due to "aircraft situation."

Meanwhile, Zest Air has undertaken a change in leadership as previously elected chairman, Ambassador Donald Dee, steps down to be replaced by Michael Romero. Romero is presently Vice Chairman of AirAsia Philippines.

Last May, AirAsia Philippines purchased a 49% stake in Zest Air. The goal of the strategic partnership was to develop synergies between the two carriers that would drive the expansion of each carrier in the Philippine market.

Romero indicated that the budget airline is currently in the process of changing a number of its systems as part of its new relationship with AirAsia. It is presently introducing several international systems and procedures that are employed by the AirAsia group. One such change affects maintenance with Zest Air's fleet of 11 Airbus aircraft now being maintained under AirAsia's International engineering standards. 

“This phasing or changes in engineering policies has caused quite a few delays," said Romero. "But this is just temporary as this is part of the integration stage and would probably take just a few weeks before ZestAir could operate on a 100 percent efficiency ratio and likewise zero delays at budgeted pricing,” he added.

According to Romero, Zest Air is now cooperating with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines as part of the regulator's investigation into the airline's flight cancellations. Romero stated that Zest's maintenance and engineering staff are working with CAAP inspectors to reassure the public that the Zest Air fleet is safe and air worthy. "Our management fully support the requirements of the engineering department to make sure that our aircraft are properly maintained and safe for public transport," Romero said.