New delays on the reopening of Tortolì airport , initially scheduled for May only for small civil aviation aircraft up to a maximum of 12 seats.
Forecasts that have not been respected, has now raced against time to complete the documentation requested by the ENAC inspection team.
After the inspection on 29 April last, ENAC had given a positive result on the conditions of the airport but requested the completion of some interventions : the signage on the runway and in the parking area, the adaptation of the obstacle cards, or the removal of a cranes and tree pruning around. Finally he asked to comply with all fire authorizations.
It's not long enough, assures Franco Ammendola, president of the Ogliastra provincial industrial consortium, sole shareholder of AliArbatax which owns the airport structure.
“We have complied with almost all the requirements, we are completing the signage and in days the firefighters will be operational. We hope to see the first flight take off in a week or ten days at the latest , ”he explains.
Many calls are already arriving at the company, all owners of small planes eager to be able to land in Ogliastra: “ We are submerged ”, explains Amendola. “We rely on a large clientele in the Mediterranean where there are thousands of owners of small aircraft who in the hot months of July and August do not know where to land in Sardinia, as the other airports on the island are often full. For us it is a new clientele with a large spending capacity compared to camper tourism, from which Ogliastra has been besieged for decades ".
The airport has been closed for 11 years . This first reopening to small aircraft, in the intentions of AliArbatax, is a first step towards the reopening of civil aviation with 100-seat tourist charters, for which the Consortium has already applied for authorization.
(Unioneonline / L)
