State aims to re-open 200 airstrips

CIVIL Aviation Minister Walter Schnaubelt says work is in progress to rebuild and re-open the almost 200 airstrips in the country.
He said some were operating while others were not.
He urged MPs and Governors to sign an agreement with the rural airstrip agencies to counter-fund the maintenance and reopening of the airstrips in their electorates.
“I encourage all members to contact the airstrip agencies and query about the support you can get to operate the rural airstrips,” he said.
He said there was an investigation into recent incidents in airstrips.
He added that most companies operating aircraft were supposed to meet the requirements under their permit to operate.
He said the role of the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority (Casa) was to ensure they were compliant.
“Casa is doing its job.
The company may face financial issues and tries to take a short direction to continue the schedule flights into the remote places that caused the incident,” he said.
“I’m not talking about specific companies but that was from observations in recent times.”
He clarified that rural airstrip came under the rural airstrip agencies and not the National Airports Corporation (NAC) which looks after airports which have terminals.
“Casa certifies the plane that lands on the airport has to be carrying 20 or more passengers,” he said.
He was responding to Kabwum MP Patrick Basa about the progress of airstrips and how the recent plane crash incidents were being addressed.