THE nation's aviation watchdog sent a team of inspectors to Regional Express's maintenance base in Wagga yesterday to investigate safety allegations levelled at the airline.
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A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said three inspectors were looking into claims the airline's management had intimidated maintenance crews out of reporting defects.
The accusation was contained in a document filed with CASA by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association alleging a "culture of fear" exists within the airline.
In a strongly worded statement released late yesterday afternoon, Rex dismissed the allegations as "spurious", "absurd" and "unfounded".
Deputy chairman John Sharp said the complaints were made by a "disgruntled engineer" who "was taken to task for several instances of professional negligence and misconduct".
"In retaliation, he has made the unfounded claim that engineers are being intimidated out of reporting defects," he said.
"CASA's visit [to Wagga] is to find out directly from our engineers if there is any merit to these claims."
A CASA spokesman said the visit to the maintenance hangar was "all about gathering first-hand information and making observations about safety performance at the Wagga base," the spokesman said.
He said it could take "some days" to analyse the information obtained - along with the airline's responses to the allegations - to determine if there was any basis for the claims.
"The allegations were made after earlier audits of Rex, so we are looking very carefully and thoroughly at these issues," the spokesman said.
Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said he understood that residents might have concerns about the allegations made against Rex.
However, he said he was confident the airline takes the safety of its passengers and employees very seriously.
"I have only read Rex's media release saying the allegations have come from a disgruntled engineer, but I want to stress that this airline puts safety at the forefront of everything they do to provide a service to regional and rural areas," he said.
When contacted Cr Conkey said he was not aware CASA inspectors had been in the city and had no knowledge about any communications between the council and Rex regarding the claims.
Mr Sharp said the accusations did not stack up as over the last two years the airline's defect reporting rate had increased by more than 10 per cent and staff turnover among licensed engineers was minimal.
"This speaks volumes about the absurd claims of the disgruntled engineer," he said.
"I have only read Rex's media release saying the allegations have come from a disgruntled engineer, but I was to stress that this airline puts safety at the forefront of everything they do to provide a service to regional and rural areas," he said.
Cr Conkey was not aware CASA inspectors had been in the city - and also has no knowledge about any communications between the council and Rex on the claims.
In a statement released earlier this week, Rex confirmed that the "same wild accusations" have been raised by a disgruntled engineer and his union, first to the Fair Work Commission and then to CASA.
"Realising that these baseless accusations are not getting any traction, some are now taking the despicable and cowardly approach of launching anonymous malicious attacks on Rex in the press," the airline's chief operating officer Neville Howell said.
"Rex has been advised by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association that it is CASA that is behind the anonymous leaks.