Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Sunair still grounded but expects return to full operations in a few weeks, some East Coast routes still running

John Weekes
John Weekes
Senior Business Reporter·NZ Herald·
29 Jul, 2025 04:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Sunair says it's making progress after the Civil Aviation Authority grounded its aircraft earlier this month.

Sunair says it's making progress after the Civil Aviation Authority grounded its aircraft earlier this month.

Regional airline Sunair is still grounded but aims to get back up and flying all its routes soon.

“We’re still awaiting the return of our certificate of airworthiness for our aircraft,” chief executive Doug Roberts said today.

“For some of our routes, we’ve got other operators flying on our behalf.”

Roberts said Air Gisborne was operating its Gisborne-Wairoa-Napier services and in Northland, another operator was flying medical charter services to Whangārei and Kaitāia.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended the airworthiness certificates for what it said were safety reasons earlier this month.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The suspension was expected to run for 10 working days to last Wednesday, July 23.

Roberts said Sunair had been working to address issues with the CAA.

He was hopeful one of the airline’s five Piper PA-23 Aztecs would get clearance as soon as today, as would one of Sunair’s three Cessna 172s.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“They will want to inspect the aircraft before they sign off [to ensure] that they’re fit to fly again,” Roberts told the Herald, referring to the CAA.

“At the moment, aside from the East Coast routes, all our other routes are closed down,” he said.

“In other words, we’re not accepting bookings.”

But he hoped to be able to update customers with more details soon.

Roberts said once the airline was ready to take bookings on other routes again, it would update its website.

“I expect around the 20th of August we’ll have everything back in the air.”

Roberts previously said some issues were identified during a maintenance audit.

He said the CAA had some issues with record-keeping, where relevant details were basically deemed not to have been recorded the way the authority wanted.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The certificate of airworthiness is effectively aviation’s version of motoring’s warrant of fitness (WoF).

“Sunair air transport operations remain suspended while we work with them to resolve outstanding safety matters,” a CAA spokeswoman said today.

“Any decisions about whether and when Sunair will resume flying will be communicated directly with Sunair,” she added.

“No aviation operator will resume flying until the CAA is satisfied that all safety matters have been resolved.”

John Weekes is a business journalist mostly covering aviation and court. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and court.

Save
    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

Why Lone Star Tauranga's former franchisee went under

21 Sep 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

A new cycleway and a kiwifruit traffic solution on Dally's agenda if elected

21 Sep 05:00 PM
Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

Opinion: The asset outperforming everything else in 2025

21 Sep 04:00 PM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Premium
Premium
Why Lone Star Tauranga's former franchisee went under
Bay of Plenty Times

Why Lone Star Tauranga's former franchisee went under

Liquidation report reveals firm's $700k debt, as restaurant's new owners make fresh start.

21 Sep 06:00 PM
A new cycleway and a kiwifruit traffic solution on Dally's agenda if elected
Bay of Plenty Times

A new cycleway and a kiwifruit traffic solution on Dally's agenda if elected

21 Sep 05:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Opinion: The asset outperforming everything else in 2025
Bay of Plenty Times

Opinion: The asset outperforming everything else in 2025

21 Sep 04:00 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP