New funding to improve Pacific aviation safety

Foreign Minister Murray McCully has announced that New Zealand will invest  $2.4 million over two years to help improve aviation safety in eight Pacific countries.

“The Pacific Aeronautical Charting and Procedures Project aims to enhance safety at selected airfields in the Pacific and make commercial air travel in the region safer,” Mr McCully says.

“The project will allow for more accurate surveying of runways, while also checking the landscape for obstacles that could encroach on the flight paths of aircraft.

“Advanced satellite technology will be used to develop new flight approaches which will improve the ability of aircraft to land safely, especially in bad weather.

“Airways Corporation of New Zealand, who currently manage air traffic navigation and services in New Zealand, have been contracted to undertake this project.

“The project will be implemented at 38 aerodromes across the Pacific over the next two years. Initial work will be undertaken in Vanuatu and the Cook Islands, before being expanded out to airfields Niue, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga and other Pacific nations.

“Training will also be provided to local staff in the Pacific to ensure that Pacific Islands are able to update aviation charts and procedures on an ongoing basis,” Mr McCully says.