CemAir hits back at Bitou Municipality

AIRCRAFT company CemAir has hit back at Bitou Municipality’s claims that it had not honoured an agreement to pay the municipality a R30 000 monthly fee, saying the council failed to produce such an agreement.

Bitou Municipality issued a letter of notice to halt the services of the aircraft at the Plettenberg Bay airport by April 13, charging that CemAir was granted use of the airport at a fixed monthly fee but the company had never paid.

The municipality’s spokesperson, Manfred van Rooyen, said CemAir was mandated to pay back all the money it owed, dating back to April last year.

But CemAir spokesperson Laura van der Molen hit back, saying the aircraft company and the municipality had in 2014 signed an agreement for the aircraft to use the airport “at no cost”.

“The no-fee structure was an essential prerequisite for CemAir to launch the service and make the necessary infrastructural upgrades to the airport,” she said.

“Little maintenance had been performed at the airport in the previous decade, and substantial improvements were required.”

Van der Molen further stated that this arrangement was acknowledged in a meeting in December 2015 and again confirmed in a letter received from the municipality in February 2016.

“Everything from the paint on the walls, to repairs of the roof, to the installation of the gate on to the apron was provided by CemAir,” she said.

Van der Molen added that the costs included airport seating, firefighter training, fire equipment, the airport’s aeronautical beacon and the development of a satellite GPS airport approach.

“It is noteworthy that direct payments made by CemAir to provide airport infrastructure far exceeded the amount now claimed by the municipality. We don’t owe them any money.

“We have had a difficult relationship working with them for the last four years,” she said.

“In the last year Bitou Municipality, through the acting airport manager, has become obstructive and aggressive, and safety standards have not been maintained.”

CemAir, according to Van der Molen, contributed to the community of Plettenberg Bay by sponsoring the town’s lifeguards, flew 150 of Bitou Municipality’s disadvantaged children on their first flight and organised the mayoral golf day event, raising R400 000 for an education fund, among other things.

She said the airline service in Plettenberg Bay had created jobs and improved the economy of the region.

The municipality said it would take CemAir’s counterclaims to a full council meeting to discuss the way forward.

‘‘ We have had a difficult relationship working with them for the last four years