Carpatair
is operating over 12,000 flights a year (32 per day). It has never
had a fatal accident since it exists.
It
is certified at the highest European standards (it is an EU-OPS1
operator) and IOSA Registred (IATA Operational Safety Audit) with
initial registration in 2005. This is the industry most rigorous
operations, maintenance and training audit system that Carpatair
succesfully renewed every two years since then. It has been the first
Romanian airline and among the first in Europe to obtain the IOSA
certification.The airline has its own aicraft maintenance facilities as well as own pilots and cabin attendants flight training organisation at its main airport in Timisoara.
The main shareholders of Carpatair are Swiss and Romanian, from the very beginning of the airline.
Carpatair and Alitalia
Carpartair has operated 3,790 flights for Alitalia from the beginning of 2012 until 31 January 2013, transporting 207.888 passengers.
A “problem story”?
Some events have been described as accidents and emergencies while the reality was totally different.
The “fuel leakeage” on one of its aircrafts at Pisa airport was in reality an exhaust fuel spillage totally admissible in certain operational conditions, but preventively, after having been signalled, the captain of the flight chose to delay the take off to make supplimentary checks.
It is said that the company has had a fire on board an aircraft in Florence.
In reality an indication in flight deck erroneusly indicated smoke, reason for which again, the captain had taken precautionary measures for such a case, only to confirm afterwards that there has been no risk whatsoever.
More recently, the return to Ancona of a flight Acona – Roma was not an emergency. The cabin temperature control system (not the pressurisation system) had a malfunction, reason for which the temperature rose in the cabin creating discomfort to passengers, so that the captain preferred to return back after airborne.
Controls, inspections...
It has been written that ENAC performed unanounced inspections on Carpatair aircrafts, as if it would indicate problems. The fact is that ENAC properly carries out SAFA (Sorveglianza sugli Operatori Esteri) on all sooner or later airlines in the short time between the landings and subsequent take-offs in Italian airports, as it is provided for all equivalent authorities in EU. There were no concerns against Carpatair following such checks.
The incident in Fiumicino on 02 February
What happened:
First Carpatair expresses its deepest regrets for the injuries and suffering of its passengers and flight crew incurred and wishes them a speedy recovery.
As required by regulations in the event of an incident we cannot enter into details about the causes, but we can give some information.
Several testimonies, starting with that of the Fiumicino Airport ENAC director, Vitaliano Turrà, reported not only the strong wind, apparently, but also the dangerous windshear phenomena which is the situation when a very strong wind switches instantly from one direction to another, causing serious risks to the aircraft.
The forcasted winds in FCO were in the limits for the ATR as aircraft type as well as those of Carpatair. Windshear predicition information was not available in the in the reports regarding actual weather and forecstaed meteorological conditions given to the crew before the flight, it was not mentioned to the pilots in the weather updates info through the ATIS (actual weather special radio frequency) during the flight or by on the tower frequency before landing.
It must be said that if it was windshear, the consequences could have been more severe if not for the crew aircraft handling ability.
Pilot experience
The captain has 9607 flight hours on the ATR – many years of experience on this type of aircraft.
Cancellation of Alitalia flights
The only Carpatair flights that are currently affected are the ones operated with the other ATR-72 under the wet lease agreement with Alitalia. It is understandable that Alitalia wanted to understand what happened in Fiumicino – if it was an incident caused by the wind or there was other reasons. All other Carpatair flights are operated regularly, and there no any other flights being cancelled.
