Sainimili Magimagi 
Sunflower Aviation Director Tim Joyce
The Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji has ordered Sunflower Aviation to shut down its operations.
Director Tim Joyce confirmed this to FBC News this afternoon.
Joyce says they received an email from CAAF on Friday, and the company has halted operations since.
He claims the shutdown stems from a long-running disagreement over who is authorised to conduct daily inspections on small training aircraft run by the company.
He says while pilots are permitted to carry out these checks when operating away from base, CAAF insisted that engineers perform the inspections, even at the company’s Nausori site.
Joyce says the company then hired two qualified engineers with specific licences for the aircraft type, but during a recent audit CAAF raised technical concerns over an internal approval and later refused to engage with the company for an entire week.
“They would not answer emails or phone calls, and then close to six o’clock on Friday night they came back and said they were not renewing the approval,”
He claims that the development has affected staff and students.
“Over a hundred students are now shut down, and we have six aircraft on the ground. If this cannot be resolved, we will have no choice but to liquidate,”
Joyce further states that if the matter is not resolved in due time, they may have no option but to liquidate company assets.
An email was also sent to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka requesting for urgent intervention on the matter.
We have also sent questions to CAAF.
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