Flyglobespan fined for flying with known technical problems

The Scottish low-cost carrier Flyglobespan has just been fined £5,000 in a case brought against it by the CAA for flying passengers across the Atlantic in a plane known to have technical problems.

Engineers had given the captain the green light to fly the Boeing 757, with passengers on board, to New York from Liverpool on 28 June last year, knowing that two of the engine pressure indicators (EPRs) were not functioning properly. Both of the indicators had been damaged the day before during a lightning storm after taking off from New York.

The airline was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court by Recorder James Curtis QC, in a case that had determined the engineers used an “optimistic interpretation” of the Civil Aviation Authority’s rules.

Legal representatives for the Scottish airline had argued that the flight’s passengers were never in any danger. Even though Curtis QC agreed with this argument, he determined that it was “clearly the wrong decision” to fly the plane without properly functioning engine pressure indicators.

He explained: “I am told and I am satisfied that the failure of the EPRs on this flight did not render the aircraft unsafe and did not in any way endanger the public who were flying on that aircraft.”

The chief executive of the Globespan Group, the carrier’s parent company, Rick Green, commented: “Clearly, we are pleased with the outcome and empathetic that the judge saw it in the manner that we always believed it to be.”

The airline has been ordered to pay a £2,500 fine for each breach, for a total of £5,000, plus £4,280 in prosecution costs.

This was the first case of criminal prosecution against a UK-based airline in 12 years.

www.flyglobespan.com