Air ambulance operator sues for $750,000
The registered operator of Taranaki’s air ambulance is suing the charitable trust which owns the service for $752,000.
It follows a new contract agreement with a third party.
Skywest Aviation spokesman Matthew Connor said a proposed agreement between the Taranaki Air Ambulance Trust (TAAT) and a new operator, Skyline Aviation, breached the contract his company had with the trust.
Skywest claimed $752,909 for the pre-purchase of an aircraft, associated costs, and loss of revenue.
Connor said the trust, by employing a Napier-based company, had changed the spirit of the agreement. ‘‘The air ambulance trust was set up 13 years ago to provide a Taranaki service for the people in the region.’’
Skywest had been the air ambulance operators in Taranaki since
2015 but the business relationship with TAAT turned sour in July when the trust decided to terminate the contract and employ Skyline Aviation to operate the service instead.
The new service was expected to start in October.
TAAT manager Drummond told the
last week the trust had decided to find another operator instead of replacing the ageing Cessna 421, which crashed in May
2019, with a more modernised turbo prop aircraft.
The Cessna 421 was owned by David TAAT, which paid the maintenance costs, but was operated and registered under Skywest Aviation, which held the air operators certificate.
The aircraft was later sold on Trade Me by the insurance assessor.
In July, Skywest was given notice after it was unable to provide an aircraft or a pilot which complied with the necessary requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority, Drummond said.
‘‘It boils down to the one issue,’’ he said in later statement.
The relationship first came to a head after the May crash when TAAT issued notice after Skywest could not replace the damaged Cessna aircraft within 24 hours.
When Skywest was allegedly unable to fulfil its contract obligations, TAAT filled the void by contracting Air Whanganui on a temporary basis to operate the service instead.
Connor, a former TAAT trustee, said it was incorrect the company could not provide a replacement aircraft as it had put a deposit on a turbo prop as a backup plane before the crash.
"The trust had signed Air Whanganui before the Cessna had slid to a stop,’’ he said.
Connor said there was no need for the trust to request who Skywest was employing as pilots.
‘‘We had 4-5 pilots in line to employ, why would he [Drummond] need to know who they were?
‘‘All of those pilots met the required CAA and National Ambulance Sector office (NASO) standards.’’
TAAT and Skywest had considered up to a year before the crash in Hamilton that a turbine prop aircraft was necessary and Skywest proposed a backup for the 38-yearold Cessna.
During that time the company had an offer to buy an aircraft from the United States, and put down a deposit, Connor said.
Skywest restarted investigations to find a replacement plane in January 2019 but say the trust continually ignored emails from the company on their findings.
‘‘The trust manager had phoned our pilot the day of the incident to say her job ‘was safe’ so we did not think anything else of it,’’ he said.
‘‘The trust just wouldn’t communicate with us so we were under the impression that we still had a contract with them and we kept paying our staff.
‘‘We thought we were a team, we even lent them $85,000 to help them out before the Hamilton incident.’’
Connor said Skywest was comfortable with the temporary arrangement with Air Whanganui because it meant the service would not be hindered, and would be a stop-gap measure until Skywest found a replacement plane.
The company continued to pay salaries for its staff and air crew for three months on the understanding it would resume operating once the replacement plane was found, he said.
Connor claimed the trust slowed the process of finding a replacement plane to make the contract ‘‘null and void’’.
‘‘Skywest’s business has always been focused on providing an air ambulance service,’’ he said.
Drummond said the trust did not wish to respond to Skywest’s allegations.
‘‘There is nothing new that we can add, other than to reiterate our position,’’ he said in a statement.
‘‘We have one objective and that is to continue to provide the people of Taranaki with a New Plymouthbased air ambulance service and our efforts are concentrated on doing just that to the best of our ability.’’