Dear Editor,

Perhaps your paper could expand on the 'regulatory issues' cited as the reason Alliance Airlines is prevented, by the Australian civil aviation regulator (CASA) from providing the services on behalf of Solomon Airlines. Alliance Airlines holds CASA issued Australian licences to operate flights. Regulatory issues affecting Alliance Airlines would affect its operations in Australia, so the questions are, do the 'regulatory issues' concern Solomon Airlines or Alliance Airlines?

Why would Australian authorities allow another foreign carrier to operate flights to Australia to the detriment of an Australian operator? Have airworthiness issues been uncovered by the Phillipine maintenance provider which double (so far) the downtime of H4-BUS? Has safety been compromised?