MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

DAP presents Havilland Dash-7

Punta Arenas based DAP airlines officially presented this Monday its latest acquisition, the 50 seats Havilland Dash-7 that will be combining air and sea cruises to Antarctica.

The Dash-7 will be part of the "Antarctica XXI" initiative, organized by the Dutch company Ocean Wide Expeditions, which will fly visitors in and out of King George island in the Antarctic peninsula in combination with a Russian cruise vessel operating from Punta Arenas.

Mr. Pivcevic from DAP said that the Dash-7 first Antarctic incursion is scheduled for November 15 in coincidence with the beginning of the cruise season. The aircraft has already been tested in flights to Puerto Williams in Chilean Tierra del Fuego and "we're very satisfied with its passenger and cargo capacity".

The Dash-7 was leased for 18 months from Canada costing 2 million US dollars that includes pilots and mechanics training plus logistic support.

"The idea is to have the aircraft fully operational from October to March, and if the project is successful we could even bring a second unit", said Mr. Pivcevic.

DAP also has a contract for the logistic support of the Russian Federation Antarctic operations which means its aircrafts will be regularly flying to Russian stations.

Mr. Pivcevic added that DAP is a member of the International Association of Antarctic Operators that are involved in emergency situations with vessels sailing to Antarctica.

DAP now have six aircrafts and five helicopters, and according to Mr. Pivcevic the airline is considering flying charters from Puerto Natales for Skorpios Patagonia Sur, a Chilean cruise company.

"The proposal is to over fly Cape Horn and Antarctica taking off in Puerto Natales", said Mr. Pivcevic.