SAFETY FIRST Manitoba airline grounded

Posted on 11/11/2015

Transport Canada confirmed that it has grounded a small charter airline based just outside Winnipeg.  Keystone Air Service has had its air operator certificate suspended by the federal regulator following a crash in Thompson, Manitoba, in September that sent eight people to hospital.

Transport Canada says Keystone cannot resume commercial air service until it demonstrates that it can meet all safety regulations.

The September crash involved a twin-engine piston aircraft that was mistakenly refilled with jet-engine fuel.

The airline was also involved in a 2012 crash in Dryden, Ont., that killed four people and was blamed partially on pilot inexperience.

Keystone officials did not immediately comment.

Transport Canada spokesman Sean Best said in a written statement Tuesday that suspending an operator's certificate is “a severe action that the department only takes when we identify serious safety deficiencies and must act to protect the public's safety.”