Airport upgrade welcomed
PLETTENBERG BAY - Plett Tourism has welcomed the move by the Bitou Municipality and airline operator CemAir, to work together to see the Plettenberg Bay Airport regain its status that would allow commercial flights to and from the coastal holiday town to resume. After the airport was recently downgraded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), CemAir, that had been offering commercial flights between Plett and major city centres for the past seven years, had to halt all flights into and out of Plettenberg Bay as the airport fell below the minimum category required for these flights to be allowed.
According to SACAA records, the reason for the suspension was the ongoing failure of the airport to address outstanding issues from inspections, some several years old.
In a recent joint statement made following a series of meetings between all interested parties, the Bitou Municipality and CemAir said they were entering into a binding agreement to restore the Plettenberg Bay Airport licence and return CemAir's scheduled airline flights to the airport.
Although some work on the resolution of issues has already begun, the signing of this cooperation agreement will allocate additional resources from CemAir to resolve the identified shortcomings, allowing the airport to meet the safety compliance requirements as soon as possible.
They hope that it would be possible to recommence commercial flights to Plettenberg Bay next month. "Plett Tourism is very excited about the recent action taken by the Bitou Municipality to rectify the situation at the airport to allow for commercial flights to be reinstated," said Plett Tourism chief executive Patty Butterworth.
"Upon consultation with the Bitou Municipality and other key stakeholders, we at Plett Tourism are confident that all steps have been taken in a timeous manner to work towards the reopening of the airport on a commercial basis. We are looking forward to welcoming the CemAir flights back into Plettenberg Bay."