Cape Town - Helicopter tour operators
at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town have their blades in a twist
over lost income as a result of airspace restrictions during the recent
visit by US President Barack Obama.
During the South African leg
of their African tour, the Obama family visited Robben Island, which
prompted the air force to impose restrictions on the airspace over the
waterfront.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association president Koos
Marais said operators had been assured by the air force that there
would be no restrictions.
But, he said, two tour operators, one of them Sport Helicopters, had to cancel planned tours for the day and refund customers.
The restrictions had lasted until late in the afternoon, when the Obamas, accompanied by five helicopters, left the island.
Sport Helicopters operates tours from the waterfront.
Marais
said he had phoned Brigadier-General Les Lombard of the air force to
ask “if there would be any funny nonsense like that”.
“Lombard had said there would be no restrictions,” said Marais.
“We were surprised about what happened. We are most disgusted at the way this was done. They deprived those people of business.”
He said if they had been notified earlier about the restrictions, operators would have made a plan.
Asked
what action the operators now planned to take, Marais said: “How do you
take action against a whole government and the air force?”
Die
Burger reported that two days before Obama’s visit to Robben Island, the
Civil Aviation Authority had issued a notice to pilots to fly no closer
than 1.8km from any of the US aircraft, otherwise they would be
considered a security risk.
South African Civil Aviation
Authority spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu said there was nothing strange
about airspace being restricted for heads of state. She said the
restrictions had been imposed by the air force.
The Star’s sister paper, the Cape Times, was unable to get comment from the air force.
According
to the report in Die Burger, Sport Helicopters had lost about R100 000
when it refunded 76 tourists for a tour of the Peninsula.
Owner Robert Macdonald did not want to comment. – The Star
Story, Photo, Comments/Reaction: http://www.iol.co.za
Sport Helicopters: http://www.sport-helicopters.co.za
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