The future of the proposed air service between Grahamstown and Johannesburg hangs in the balance, as discussions between Makana Municipality and scheduled airline Cemair reach a stalemate. Both cite aspects of the proposed terms as the grit in the engines.
The future of the proposed air service between Grahamstown and Johannesburg hangs in the balance, as discussions between Makana Municipality and scheduled airline Cemair reach a stalemate. Both cite aspects of the proposed terms as the grit in the engines.
The project is one of many balls in the air for senior Council official Mandisi Planga.
As director of Public Safety and Community Services, he has been driving a memorandum of understanding through Council processes, starting with the 29 January special council meeting.
A resolution was then tabled at the 12 March council meeting, only to be referred back to Planga's directorate.
Planga, acting municipal manager for the past two weeks, has been busy this week trying to resolve service-delivery protests in Alicedale.
On Monday the windows of his car were broken and his tyres were slit during action in which protesters set fire to the community hall. Planga says it's too early to say there's a problem with the Cemair agreement.
"It's definitely not over," Planga told Grocott's Mail on Thursday 25 March.
"We're even on the verge of taking a trip to Plettenberg Bay to see how the service operates there."
Grocott's Mail received an overwhelming response from readers and online audiences when Cemair and the municipality announced plans for the service at the end of November last year.
At stakeholder meeting on 8 December, local businesses and game farms expressed great interest in the project, along with the town's educational institutions and the National Arts Festival.
However, in a telephone interview with Grocott's Mail yesterday, Cemair CEO Miles van der Molen expressed doubt that his company would be able to continue with plans for the operation.
"We're happy to proceed, but we haven't heard anything from them yet.
"We were told we would hear from the municipality's lawyer on Monday to discuss concerns about our proposed terms, but that didn't happen and no one communicated with us.
" According to Van der Molen, Cemair's requirements to operate in Grahamstown are simple: "The municipality needs to maintain the airfield and provide fire services," he said.
A third condition Cemair had requested in the MOU drafted earlier this year was that the company needed to be exempt from fees for the first year of their operation in Grahamstown.
"We're taking an enormous amount of commercial risk," Van der Molen said.
"We need a relaxation while we establish it."
Planga, on the other hand, also speaking to Grocott's Mail yesterday, pointed out that Makana is a cash-strapped council.
"Much as we're not asking to enjoy any profit from the operation, we need it to sustain itself without subsidisation," Planga said.
In an interview earlier this month, Planga said he saw the air service as a crucial boost to economic development in the region.
Planga believes negotiations will continue.
"It's not over yet," he said. Van der Molen says while it's not all over, Cemair is unable to proceed from their present position.
"There has been no formal communication," he said.
"We were told we would hear from them and we haven't. It shouldn't be difficult to negotiate the gap away, but it's impossible when they're not communicating any more.
Van der Molen denied that rumoured plans for a private runway at a game reserve near Grahamstown had affected his attitude to the project. "Our offering has a broad rather than a limited appeal," Van der Molen said.
"The success of these things is by binding a whole lot of needs together," he said.
Van der Molen said it was a pity plans hadn't progressed further.
"There has been so much enthusiasm from the community – we could have had the service operating already," he said.
