The NEWS (Monrovia)
14 April 2004
Monrovia — One of the brains behind the Satgur Air Transport Corporation (SATGUR AIR), Mr. Upjit Sachdeva (Jetty) has assured that his airline "will never put the lives of passengers at risk", implying that his aircraft was airworthy.
Mr. Jeety assurance comes in the wake of news reports that Satgur Air lacks basic safety requirements as well as poor navigational lights and an "apparent" dirty engine gear.
Although Mr. Jetty, in his reaction yesterday, acknowledged that upon initial inspection of his aircraft last September there "few missing signs", the aircraft was found to be in airworthy condition by the Ministry of Transport.
Some of the missing signs rteported by the Ministry at the time, according to the Ministry of Transport's inspection, were, "NO SMOKING", "FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS" and that there were "no life vest on board the aircraft".
But Mr. Jetty said all of these missing signs and life vest have been rectified by the aircraft crew.
In addition to this, Mr. Jetty said his airline has put in place a 6-month interval inspection of its aircraft.
He also mentioned that his airline provides what he calls "excellent services" to the population of Liberia, most especially air travelers.
"So far, there has been no complaints from passengers", Mr. Jetty said, adding that, "you may asked anyone who has flown in our aircraft".
Mr. Jetty then alleged that the news story was a design by his competitors to give his airline a bad name.
According to him, Satgur Air is gradually gaining a credible foothold within the commercial air transport sector in Liberia and is therefore calling for fair and clean competition, not a dirty one.
"Since our resumption, we have never miss out on our flight schedules", Mr. Jetty said.
Satgur Air flies the Monrovia-Abidjan, Abidjan-Monrovia route. Yesterday the airline added the Monrovia-Conakry, Conakry-Monrovia route to its flights. Very soon, according to Mr. Jetty, Satgur Air would add a third route, Monrovia-Freetown, Freetown-Monrovia.
"Our one-way fare along the Monrovia-Abidjan route remains down from US$275 t0 US$175 and we are bringing in a bigger aircraft, a 75 seatter very soon", Mr. Jetty said.
Meanwhile, at a press conference Tuesday, Transport Ministry authorities in Monrovia declared that the Indian-owned Satgur Air was in airworthiness condition despite media reports that the aircraft is a "death-trap" owing to its alleged defectiveness.
Transport Minister Dr. Vamba Kanneh said, an earlier airworthiness inspection conducted under the administration of his predecessor found the aircraft to be in airworthiness conditions following rectification of missing signs and warnings by the crew.
Besides, Minister Kanneh said pertinent documents such as airworthiness and registration certificates, radio station license, operator certificate, aircraft specification sheet and insurance were reviewed, verified and acknowledged.
Having reviewed the authenticity of the documents followed by the inspection, the aircraft, AN24B, with registration number UN46176, was therefore considered airworthy when maintained accordingly.
Moreover, the inspection report recommended that in addition to the day to day monitoring of the aircraft, that a 6 months interval for inspection should be put into place.
Dr. Vamba Kanneh failed to tell journalists as to how old is the aircraft.
The Telegraph newspaper Tuesday reported that the lens on the navigational light, which makes it possible for an aircraft to be spotted from a far distance, was cracked and needs to be replaced.
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