Seaplane flights from Lake Burley Griffin are ready for take-off.
One of the two operators planning flights from the lake is expected to get the final licence very soon, perhaps this week. He reckons that trips could then be available by the end of February.
"We are pretty close," South Coast Seaplanes chief pilot Tim Gilbo said.
But the other operator - the one promising flights to Sydney - blames high demand for his planes there for a delay in the Canberra service.
Meanwhile, South Coast Seaplanes is up and just about ready. Initially, there would be trips from the lake over Canberra and beyond, but the plan is to expand to run day trips to the south coast.
"We would start off doing scenics around Canberra but very quickly we would look at doing day trips to the coast," Mr Gilbo said.
One option would be taking off from Canberra, and landing near a boat off the coast a half hour or so later. The boat would then take trippers for tastings at an oyster farm, before returning to Canberra.
Another possibility for the operator is to start at Lake Burley Griffin for a 40-minute trip to lunch at Narooma, and then back to Canberra by the evening.
If the demand is there, the day-trip could be expanded to include a few nights at local hotels.
"We will be looking to pull together a world-class experience. It will be very exciting," Mr Gilbo said.
He is not revealing prices but a shorter trip currently on offer from the company from Moruya to an oyster farm costs $1540.
While the South Coast Seaplanes venture is about to start, there is uncertainty about the timing of the other seaplane service from Lake Burley Griffin.
Last September, Aaron Shaw, the founder and managing director of Sydney Seaplanes, said: "We need to get our commercial arrangements in place but we expect to be able to do that with the intention of starting commercial services here in spring this year (meaning 2023)."
The company already has an NCA licence to fly two flights a day from Lake Burley Griffin between 9.30am and 4.30pm.
But the NCA added the proviso that "the licence granted to Sydney Seaplanes to operate on Lake Burley Griffin has strict requirements regarding regulatory approvals and safety".
Last week, one of its aircraft had an accident in Sydney Harbour, and one of the eight people on board needed treatment for minor injuries.
Mr Shaw denied that the plane crashed, though it was damaged: "It was likely impacted by a large boat wake before taking off which damaged the left float. The take-off was calmly discontinued by the pilot and passengers all offloaded from the plane and brought back to our base. The aircraft sustained damage to the left float which is being repaired now.
"This is the first time on over 100,000 take-offs in Rose Bay we've encountered a large boat wake like this, something we would not see in Lake Burley Griffin."
He made the point that it had taken nearly four years to get approval from the NCA to land on Lake Burley Griffin. He said he first spoke to the NCA in December 2020.
