It may have been passed in passing the amendment for the waterways of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport's «Driving safely» bill, which was passed yesterday in Parliament and became a law of the state, however, it is very important for seaplanes to finally operate in Greece again, after 2009.
And if everything goes according to plan, at Easter 2022 we will have our first seaplane flight from Corfu.
Specifically, provide for the issuance of Interim Authorisations for the operation of water sports facilities, which means that waterways can operate with the minimum requirements and within one year the remaining requirements can be submitted in order to obtain a permanent operating licence.
It is worth noting that seaplanes were operated under this scheme from 2004 to 2008, under the State Secretary of Transport, Michael Papadopoulos, who is now the one who put the amendment to the bill, the first aquatic airport in Corfu was licensed in 2014!
For their temporary licensing, the following are required: nautical chart and GIS chart showing the requested waterway, Waterway Operation Manual (temporary waterway licenses require one Manual, unlike the waterway licenses of Law 4663/20 which require three Manuals: Waterway Manual, Waterway Safety Plan and Emergency Response Plan), a decision to grant the use of the area as a waterway , legal documents - supporting documents of the applicant, a fee for the examination of the Application - Technical File, and waterway equipment: visual identification sign, windlass or «T» point, mooring points, life jackets for immediate use, service boat, fire extinguishers.
Within 60 days from the date of submission of the application for a provisional operating licence, the inspections will be completed by the relevant departments and the Waterways Commission, which will have carried out the inspection of the waterways and if there are no findings, the provisional operating licence will be issued.
Under the procedure for issuing provisional authorisations, applications will be submitted for all waterways where the authorisation dossiers contain all of the above requirements.
These are the 30 waterways of the South Aegean Region (PNAI) on the following islands: Rhodes (2, Central Port and Lardos), Halki, Symi, Tilos, Karpathos, Kastelorizo, Agathonisi, Nisyros, Astypalaia, Kasos, Kos (2, Central Port and Kefalos), Kalymnos, Leros, Lipsi, Mykonos, Mykonos, Santorini, Kythnos, Kea, Andros, Sikinos, Serifos, Serifos, Donousa, Anafi, Naxos, Amorgos, Syros, Milos and Paros.
Applications will also be submitted for the issuance of temporary operating licenses for 5 waterways in the Region of Ionian Islands (PIN) on the following islands: Kefalonia, Ithaca, Lefkada, Meganissi and Zakynthos.
The aim is the rapid licensing of the five islands mentioned above, so that, in combination with the three already licensed waterways in: Corfu, Paxos, Patras, and the ones under licensing on the three Diapontia islands and Lake Ioannina, to create an extensive network on the Western axis of Greece, where the launch of seaplanes is planned for next season.
At the same time, it is planned to submit applications for temporary licenses for the operation of waterports in Crete, in: Agia Galini, Ierapetra, Chania and Hersonissos.
According to Tasos Govas, President of Hellenic Waterways, «the issuance of temporary waterway licenses is a very important initiative of the Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport that will allow the rapid licensing of waterways in many island, coastal and lakeside areas, which will make the operation of seaplanes viable with all the positive benefits that this entails for tourism, social and wider developmental reasons for our country».
