Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) held a Stakeholder Consultation meeting on the 15th of September 2022 as part of a process to promulgate new, and drastically different, Part 139 Aerodrome (airstrips/runways) Regulations.
The regulations will apply to, and affect, all General Aviation and charter commercial flights, including business, tourism, hunting, emergency medical evacuation, government, disaster relief and crime prevention flights.
The Aircrafts Pilots and Operators Association (AOPA) of Namibia, which acts as a representative body for stakeholders in the aviation industry, stated that the newly proposed Part 139 regulations deviate greatly from the current regulations and are more stringent than those applied in many countries with thriving aviation communities.
AOPA stated that these regulations are impractical in their current form for Namibia and will have far-reaching negative implications for the entire aviation industry as well as key economic activities such as tourism and healthcare in remote areas.
“These draft new regulations are intended to replace existing, well-functioning regulations and will make aviation in remote areas unworkable and exorbitantly expensive. It is likely to have an adverse discriminatory impact on remote rural communities and could eventually even lead to losses of life as these remote airfields fall into disrepair as they will not be able to comply with the new regulations,” AOPA argued.
Moreover, the association shared that the attempts to license and maintain the approximately 860 aerodromes and airstrips in Namibia in accordance with the new regulations will cost the owners and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and countless years of effort.
“This is a near impossible task for Namibia or any country with such a large, remote aviation industry. We remain committed to continue working with the NCAA to find a safe, effective, and amicable solution to the issue,” AOPA concluded.
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