Change of immigration procedures for Private flights in Cape Town

[GULF69]

Hi all,
Glad to announce that I just heard from my buddy at Signature Flight Support Cape Town, who will as from 1 August 2007 have Customs / Immigration formalities at their hangars for all private flights / charters!
I know my passengers will love this, but even more so the other crew's that have to do a scenic drive of the airport every time they want to fly over boarder!
69

[Stassiebal]

Now if only someone needed a citation driver out of FACT... then I could go home and enjoy the new facilities too.
O well.... can only dream!
Good on ya Signature!!

[CJ750]

Did the SAA pilots that fly the Challenger 300 in their so called PRIVATE CAPACITY on charter have anything to do with this:ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

[planecrazi]

Peter Bouwer (ex-school teacher and geologist, ex-NAC PE manager), doing something in Cape Town with jets?
Now there is a name from the 27 years ago.

Can anybody PM me his email for old time sake?

[JetPark]

Thanks 69 - good news. I will be passing through later in the year again - will enjoy that service - well done on the Signature Team - long overdue.

[planecrazi]

Gulf69, many thanks, all copied, check your PM.
Appreciate it:ok:

[Goldfish Jack]

CJ750

and the meaning of that comment?

They ops 1 of the multitude of a/c that move through the hangar area daily,or u just having a grind at them?

It has always been a major problem for foreign operators to arrive/dep at FACT. Having to position your a/c to the freight area as there is no parking on the main apron. It just adds time and achieves nothing. Never mind the ATCs having to juggle the traffic flow to accomodate these a/c.

Never made sense to me - just glad to see the AOC and GAC could co-operate with Customs and Immigaration and come to a common sense solution that serves everyone.

Does this mean they will have a full time facility at Signature.

planecrazi - Peter has moved to the UK -can get his details from Signatures web site

[Springbok Heavy]

Ya I was glad to hear this news... Imm is going to so much easier for me to deal with now :ok:... No more complaining pilots whinging about how long it takes ;)

[GULF69]

Goldfish Jack, it is my understanding that the immigration officers will be fetched (by the operator, be it Signature, Cloud 9, Execujet etc) from the main terminal and taken to Signature. pax / crew processed and then taken back to the terminal. Now if only ORTIA / FALA can get this right to!

[CJ750]

I often pass through Signature and are very grateful for their assistance and professional attitude.

My comment about the SAA pilots having anything to do with it is a grind against the guys who are taking jobs away from other experienced pilots in Cape Town flying a challenger 300 while having a well paying airline job. :ouch:

[CALCULATOR]

Just checking, will this also apply to large charter groups that we often do out of signature ie, 737, 727?
Will these groups also be able to clear through at signature?

[GULF69]

i very much doubt it... cant see 150pax going though a little office...

[JetPark]

Calculator, the new GM there at Signature has advised that large groups are still required to go through the terminal areas - I had the discussion with him as I am due through there with one of our Corporates (GLEX) within the next month or so, and we have a full load planned so was also wondering about the numbers. More than 15 pax = old way less than 15 pax = new way! The lounge there can't cope with big numbers anyway - I had the misfortune of passing through with my ship on a day that there was a fully loaded 737....what a nightmare it was but the guys need to handle that stuff to make up for the quiet times.

[GULF69]

latest i've heard is that they are going to up the number of pax to 50 to accomodate CHC's crew changes in the Convair

[Goldfish Jack]

I heard that all the local operators could ops via Signature, provided that accurate numbers would be timeously forwarded to Imm.

Other operators would liaise with Signature iro pax loads and then a decision would be made as to where the a/c would go. Seems that just about all bizjets would end up @ Signature but that large groups that could not be accom @ Signature would have to go to the terminal.

Headway is being made and all concerned need a large vote of thanks - it sure is going to make the ground contollers job easier not having to get these a/c to/from the main ramp, never mind the extra starts/shut downs wasted on the jets.