MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Air 2000 Ordered to Land

The Air 2000 luxury 757, which brought 87 passengers to the Falklands on Monday, was ordered to land shortly after take off from Chile on Tuesday. The aircraft flew from the Falklands to Punta Arenas to overnight on Monday after dropping off 87 passengers from TCS Expeditions. It was on its way back to the Islands to collect the tourists when the incident occurred. Airborne over the Chilean-Argentine border, it was instructed to return to Punta Arenas by air traffic control in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina who said it had entered unauthorised air space. The 757 then had to wait for acceptance of a new flight plan from the Falklands. It arrived 2 ½ hours later than originally planned. First Secretary at Government House, Russ Jarvis explained that the problem arose due to a mix up with paperwork for the flight. The aircraft flew to Punta Arenas as a private flight, however it had been registered as a charter flight for the Chile ? Falklands leg of the journey. A charter flight had not been authorised. International Tours and Travel requested advice from Operations at Mount Pleasant Airport who said that all inbound flight plans showed the Air 2000 aircraft operating as a Scheduled Air Service. They received no further definition. The delay into the Falklands caused the group to arrive too late at Punta Arenas to take their charter flight to their next destination. Jennie Forrest representing International Tours and Travel said "the tourism industry do not welcome this type of interruption, delay and subsequent additional expense caused to the TCS Expeditions programme." Adding, "In the past, such incidents have been labelled a misunderstanding, which they believe is an unsatisfactory response in the interests of tourism growth and confidence in the Falklands."

High Seas chase poachers

Australian and South African troops have seized a Togo-registered fishing boat and its crew off South Africa, ending a ten day international chase across the Southern and Indian Oceans. The South Tommy and its illicit cargo of rare Patagonian toothfish estimated to be worth more than 50 million dollars is being towed back to Freemantle in Western Australia. An Australian patrol boat first spotted the