The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says it has had serious concerns about the Australian operations of the company involved in yesterday's air crash in Papua New Guinea.
Three Australians and a New Zealander were killed when a Trans Air PNG plane crashed on remote Misima Island yesterday.
Investigations are underway into what caused the Citation jet to overshoot the runway and burst into flames.
Trans Air PNG has been operating charter flights into Australia from Papua New Guinea.
CASA director of aviation safety John McCormick says the authority had previously tried to stop the company flying to Australia, but Trans Air PNG appealed and was granted permission under strict conditions.
"Earlier this year the administrative tribunal set aside our decision and issued a licence to operate to Australia," Mr McCormick said.
"CASA had previously attempted to stop Trans Air flying to Australia, that's correct. We were not satisfied with the safety that we saw with that operation."
CASA says the aircraft which crashed yesterday was the only one that had approval to fly to Australia.
News agency AAP is reporting that Les Wright, a part-owner of Trans Air, died in the crash.
Mr Wright was the co-owner and chief pilot of the similarly named airline Transair that was involved in a plane crash that killed 15 people in far north Queensland in 2005.
Meanwhile, the sole survivor of the Misima Island crash has been flown back to PNG's capital, Port Moresby.
The New Zealand man, who is believed to be one of the pilots, escaped yesterday's crash with serious bruising.
He was flown to Port Moresby on a charter flight this afternoon and was stretchered into the Trans Air hangar at Jacksons Airport.
The ABC understands he will be flown to Australia for further medical treatment.
It appears unlikely the remains of the four people killed in crash will be transported to Port Moresby today.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says the deceased Australian men were from New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, and their families have been notified.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) says it has accepted a request from PNG's accident investigation commission to assist with the crash probe.
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