Airfield regulations postponed
Private airfields now have an extra year to register their airstrips and do environmental compliance to allow fly-in safaris to continue.
The works ministry has decided to postpone the new regulations that will not allow commercial aircraft to land at unlicensed airfields in the country by a year.
The regulations will now only be effective 1 January 2020.
Works minister John Mutorwa published an amendment to the Civil Aviation Regulations by means of Government Notice no 293 on 8 November. The existing regulations under Part 139 were therefore repealed and substituted with new regulations as laid out in the government notice.
The newly published regulations state that commercial flights are no longer allowed to land on unlicensed airfields, which were possible under the old regulations. The regulations originally would have come into effect on 1 January 2019. However, both the tourism and aviation industries raised concern about the date of enforcement of the regulations. The provision would have rendered most airstrips illegal on 1 January 2019 and therefore the bulk of the scenic tours in Namibia would have been unable to operate. The requirement for registration also includes an environmental impact assessment, but all airfields would not have been able to comply in time. The chairman of the Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations (Fenata), Bernd Schneider, last week said fly-in safaris form a key part of the Namibian tourism industry and many lodges, especially those in remote areas, rely heavily on their landing strips and the resulting air access to bring in their clients. He said with the ever-deteriorating road conditions, flights with light aircraft have become an increasingly important mode of transport for the tourism industry. He said the new regulations would have grounded commercial flights to nearly 100 airfields in Namibia from 1 January next year and added that more than 60 000 passengers or tourists will be impacted. According to Schneider these regulations would have forced most light aircraft operators to shut down their businesses as well, resulting in substantial job losses.
The regulations will now only be effective 1 January 2020.
Works minister John Mutorwa published an amendment to the Civil Aviation Regulations by means of Government Notice no 293 on 8 November. The existing regulations under Part 139 were therefore repealed and substituted with new regulations as laid out in the government notice.
The newly published regulations state that commercial flights are no longer allowed to land on unlicensed airfields, which were possible under the old regulations. The regulations originally would have come into effect on 1 January 2019. However, both the tourism and aviation industries raised concern about the date of enforcement of the regulations. The provision would have rendered most airstrips illegal on 1 January 2019 and therefore the bulk of the scenic tours in Namibia would have been unable to operate. The requirement for registration also includes an environmental impact assessment, but all airfields would not have been able to comply in time. The chairman of the Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations (Fenata), Bernd Schneider, last week said fly-in safaris form a key part of the Namibian tourism industry and many lodges, especially those in remote areas, rely heavily on their landing strips and the resulting air access to bring in their clients. He said with the ever-deteriorating road conditions, flights with light aircraft have become an increasingly important mode of transport for the tourism industry. He said the new regulations would have grounded commercial flights to nearly 100 airfields in Namibia from 1 January next year and added that more than 60 000 passengers or tourists will be impacted. According to Schneider these regulations would have forced most light aircraft operators to shut down their businesses as well, resulting in substantial job losses.
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Namibian Sun
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