Casa denies Hayfield certified

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By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ACTING Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) chief executive Captain Tom Waqa says they are yet to approve the use of the Hayfield Airport in East Sepik for commercial flights.
“We have certified 22 national airports but not Hayfield Airport in the Maprik district,” Waqa said.
He said Maprik district development authority had to approach them with their documents for them to inspect the aerodrome to see if it needed certification.
“We will issue a certificate for it after we have it inspected to see if it meets all the requirements of part one of the Casa PNG Act.
“In the meantime, any commercial airline can use it but it will be according to their own air safety assessment,” Waqa said.
Waqa’s comments were made as Maprik MP John Simon said Casa certified the aerodrome on Monday for commercial flights.
“The Rural Airstrip Authority has done testing and have made clearance for a plane to make a test landing on that 1.2km runway. The runway is big enough for a Dash 8 plane to land,” Simon said.
“We have built a terminal and Air Sanga Airways was the first plane to make a test landing on Sunday.
“We are now inviting other airline companies to come and set up their office at Hayfield.
“Maprik is now having an economic boom and we will be transporting our vanilla straight to Vanimo, in West Sepik, to be sold in the Indonesian markets.”