Travellers Stranded By Dili Flight Ban
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 30, 2000
Dozens of travellers are stranded in East Timor and Darwin because of a Civil Aviation Safety Authority ban on Australian passenger planes using Dili's airport.
The ban was issued late on Friday, and the only operator of scheduled flights, he Darwin-based Air North Regional, said it was caught completely by surprise.
Officials from CASA, Foreign Affairs and the federal Department of Transport met in Canberra yesterday to deal with the issue.
As a result of the meeting, the officials have asked the RAAF to help clear away dangerous obstacles alongside the runway.
The RAAF said these obstacles - concrete light towers - could be cleared in days.
A CASA spokesman told The Sunday Age a notice was issued late on Friday stopping all Australian operators flying into Dili with aircraft of more than 5700 kilograms. That barred all aircraft with more than 12 or 15 seats, and followed an inspection of the Dili aerodrome last week.
``There is no civil aviation authority in East Timor, so we went ourselves and had a look and determined that it was well below civil aviation standards," the spokesman said.
``Our guys came back and said there were a few problems."
The most serious problem was the concrete light towers alongside the runway, which were considered dangerous obstacles. The sides of the runway also sloped quite steeply and airport security was generally not good.
``We have no control over the aerodrome, of course," the spokesman said. ``It's not Australian. So we've issued a notice to Australian operators to say they can't continue to fly in there with aircraft above 5700 kilograms."
An Air North director, John Gamble, said the airline began flights into Dili two days after InterFET and the Australian forces took control of the town, and 601 flights had been made so far without incident.
Mr Gamble said there had been no consultation before the ban.
``The cessation edict was handed to us at 5pm on a Friday night when we're facing a long weekend in Darwin, and we regard this as being somewhat unconscionable conduct," he said.
``We have international passengers stranded in Dili, attempting to get to Dili and attempting to meet international flights and commitments. They are becoming somewhat incensed."
The passengers were being sent back to their hotels to wait for news.
The airline has 19 scheduled flights a week into Dili using 30-seat Brasilia EMB-120 turbo-prop aircraft.
Qantas was due to start its scheduled service to Dili on Tuesday using 36-seat Dash 8 aircraft. The airline was yesterday considering its options.
Those wishing to visit East Timor could still charter light aircraft or go to another country first.
LINKS: www.casa.gov.au
© 2000 The Sunday Age
