the caaf's regulatory role was given to a newly formed regulatory organisation called the civil aviation authority of the fiji islands (caafi). the caafi's functions, as provided under the civil aviation reform act, include civil aviation regulation and international civil aviation obligations, along with safety oversight and safety education responsibilities for all airports, airlines, airport operations, and personnel. it oversees the activities of airport operators, air traffic control and air navigation service providers, and aircraft operators. it also has the responsibility for disposing of assets not required by afl and for managing a housing estate (with over 150 residential sites) and other properties. in addition, it has a 51 percent shareholding in air terminal services (fiji) ltd which provides ground handling services, including passenger handling, aircraft engineering, and in-flight catering. the implementation of the reform occurred in early april 1999, during the campaign for the may 1999 national elections. the approach adopted to transfer staff from caaf to the two new organisations resulted in chaos. caaf staff were terminated and paid their retirement gratuity and recreation leave entitlements. many excess caaf employees were offered redundancy packages and resigned.