Flyglobespan surrenders ETOPS licence
15.01.08
Edinburgh based budget airline Flyglobespan has voluntarily surrendered its Extended Range Twin Operations (ETOPS) licence, which lets it fly over large expanses of water using planes with two engines, taking the shortest route to the US. The move comes just months after the budget airline won back the licence after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended it on safety concerns, the first time it had done this for any airline in 15 years.
On transatlantic routes, twin-engine planes without ETOPS clearance are forced to take a flight path that never takes them more than an hour away from the nearest airport, in case of engine problems. Without a licence, the airline can only fly over the Atlantic via Iceland, Greenland and Canada - an indirect, slower route - adding about an hour to a flight and burning more fuel, increasing costs.
A Flyglobespan spokesman said that the airline was 'fully confident' of having the licence restored by the summer, when it will operate routes to the US and Canada. He said: 'This is a very minor thing really, we hope to have it all sorted out in a few months and definitely before May.'
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