The operators of the seaplane which plunged into the Hawkesbury river have paid tribute to the pilot who died along with his five passengers on New Years Eve.
Sydney Seaplanes on Monday said they had suspended all flights indefinitely.
The passengers who died were high-profile British businessman Richard Cousins, his two sons, his fiancee and her 11-year-old daughter.
The death of the pilot, Gareth Morgan, has left the company's owners and pilots reeling.
"It's a very traumatic day not only for Sydney Seaplanes but for Sydney and Australia," co-owner Ken Gaunt told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
"We are devastated," he added with tears in his eyes.
The company's managing director, Aaron Shaw, described Mr Morgan as a "lovely and gentle guy".
He told reporters the pilot had done more than 10,000 flying hours, 9000 of which were on sea planes.
"We are all absolutely devastated at his loss and ringing his parents today was obviously one of the worst calls that I have ever had to make in my life and they are really sad and devastated by his loss," Mr Shaw said.
He said conditions were "benign" and no untoward weather activities had been reported through the day.
Mr Shaw said the company had suspended all flights until the cause of the crash had ben identified by investigators.
He said the company had an "open book" and would turn over all plane maintenance logs and information about the fleet to authorities.
"We want to try to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible," he said.
"We are confident we've done everything we can to avoid this situation."
Mr Shaw said operators of the seaplane model on the ill-fated flight are required to have engines replaced every 1200 hours of flight time but his company replaces them at 1100 hours.
The particular plane which crashed had an engine with only 200 hours of flight time, Mr Shaw said.
No emergency call is believed to have been made by the plane before the crash he said, adding Mr Morgan had thousands of hours of experience in seaplanes.
"He flew my family and I to Palm Beach just before Christmas," he said.
