Golden Bay Air (Takaka) has been forced to charter capacity from other carriers on an ad-hoc basis as its own Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) lapsed on March 20 and has not yet been reissued by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ), Stuff.co.nz has reported.

The CAA is reportedly planning an audit of the company to examine "the cause of poor safety performance or to identify a particular problem within an organisation", although no details have been revealed as to the nature of these safety issues.

"We can't comment on details of the issues we're currently working through with the company," the CAA has said in a statement.

For its part, Golden Bay Air director Richard Molloy has said that the audit is a routine procedure and has not been prompted by any safety issues.

"This is a five-yearly event that every operator goes through. It's a routine five-yearly recertification event. We're working our way through it with the CAA at the moment and hope to be operating ourselves again soon," Molloy has added.

Prior to the suspension of own operations, Golden Bay Air had been connecting Takaka on New Zealand's South Island with each of Wellington, Nelson, NZ, and Karamea. It had also been operating charter and scenic flights, using a fleet of one Piper (twin piston) PA-34 Seneca, one Piper (single piston) PA-32 Cherokee, and one PA-28 Cherokee.