ORANJESTAD — Between 90 and 100 aircraft owners will participate with the International Aviation Summit to be held on Aruba on October 26th and 27th. With this event the Aruban government wants to register more aircrafts on the island. Two international companies specializing in aircraft registration will sponsor the event.
Up to last year, the registration of aircrafts yielded 500,000 to 600,000 florins on extra revenues, says Minister of Transport, Otmar Oduber (AVP). In the past two years, the government attempted to expand this activity. Eighty-five aircrafts and helicopters are currently registered on Aruba and with the arrival of another nine aircrafts in the coming months, the government hopes to have registered 100 aircrafts before the turn of the year. At that time, the government expects to have gained 1 million florins from this registration. The target is to have 250 aircrafts in total in 2013 in the Aruban aircraft register, which is to fill the treasury with an extra 5 million florins.
Certification
In addition to registering the aircrafts, Aruba also provides for certification of the aircrafts, the pilots and the maintenance facilities of those aircrafts abroad, while this inspection is also be performed by Arubans. Every month, Aruban inspectors will fly to the facilities in question, says the Minister. The accident several years ago with a Kazakhstan aircraft that was registered on Aruba, had no negative consequences for the register. “The cause of such an accident usually doesn’t have anything to do with the inspection of the aircraft,” Minister Oduber maintains. Five international institutes in that field recognize the Aruban aircraft register and its certification program, he says. In addition, there are agreements with The Netherlands on the observance of the highest safety criterion for the aviation industry.
Luxury section
The Minister points out that the high safety standards actually ensure that Aruba can focus on the registration of aircrafts in the highest luxury section. Many of the aircrafts in the Aruban register are namely luxury private models, which for example are used by heads of state, wealthy investors and multinationals. Serving that executive section could involve positive side effects for the island, says the Minister. “Besides generating revenues with the registrations, one also establishes bonds with possible investors for the island.” This way traffic bureau ATA could also tap the market for conference tourism, he says. “We are not the cheapest nor do we wish to be. We want to continue focusing ourselves on the current market with important names and large countries.”
The website from the Aruban aircraft register www.airsafetyfirst.com advertises the register as a facility where owners can have their aircraft registered entirely anonymously. In addition, owners are exempted from paying income tax, sales tax, import duties or stamp tax. Within five working days, after all the paperwork has been completed, aircrafts can be certified and registered on Aruba.
