Airport dispute over

Press, 23 July 1980, Page 1

Airport dispute over

PA Wellington A dispute that threatened to shut down air services in and out of Dunedin was settled yesterday when the Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr McLachlan) gave an-assurance that the. surveillance radar damaged during the recent Otago floods would be either repaired or replaced. He met a deputation from the Airline Pilots’ Association at Parliament Buildings yesterday afternoon. The settlement

means that flight' to and from Dunedin will resume as scheduled today. The airport has been shut since the floods damaged navigational equipment last month. The association’s president (Mr D. McAlister) said after the meeting that the decision to repair or replace the radar would be determined by a Civil Aviation investigation of the cost of the two options. “But in any event we are going to get surveillance radar at Dunedin,” he said. “If it is replacement

equipment, it could take about 18 months and during that lime the airline companies and passengers will have to put up with more flight irregularity in terms of scheduled arrivals and departure times.” There would be more diversions out .of Dunedin until the equipment was in place, he said. There was now no question of pilots not flying aircraft to Dunedin, Mr McAlister said. Mr McLachlan, in a statement last evening confirmed that the surveillance radar would be reestablished.