SkyAlps (BQ, Bolzano/Bozen) anticipates aircraft groundings to last for several months due to extensive safety checks on its DHC-8-Q400 fleet, Italy's RaiNews reported citing chief executive Josef Gostner. He said the grounding of seven DHC-8-Q400s and having to wet-lease in several aircraft have already cost the carrier EUR1 million euros (USD1.08 million).
This follows an audit by Italy's Civil Aviation Authority (Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile - ENAC) in late February 2024, when a number of "non-conformities" were discovered. A prosecutor in Bolzano, Italy, has launched an investigation into SkyAlps with an external aircraft maintenance specialist at the centre of the probe.
Due to the grounding, the airline has had to wet-lease aircraft to fulfil its planned schedule. On March 10, ch-aviation analysis of Flightradar24 ADS-B data showed that since March 1 SkyAlps had been using ACMI services from multiple European companies including Avanti Air, Universal Air, Luxwing, Private Wings, Avion Express Malta, and Trade Air.
More recently, the regional carrier has also wet-leased two B737-800s from ETF Airways, one A320-200 from SundAir, one Do328-100 from MHS Aviation (Germany), and two ATR72-600s from AeroItalia.
FlightRadar24 ADS-B data show that only a single Q400 from the SkyAlps' fleet, 9H-PAUL (msn 4255), is active as of March 31. The advantage of the current situation, Gostner said, is that the aircraft are being thoroughly inspected, at various workshops throughout Europe.
The airline did not respond to ch-aviation's request for a comment on the current status of the grounded aircraft.
