Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said she is “ very concerned” about the woes at Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) after warnings by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) a year ago that due processes were not being followed at some airports in the country.
The Citizen earlier this month reported that air traffic control operations in South Africa are facing critical issues that could potentially jeopardise the safety of flights.
According to current and former air traffic controllers employed by ATNS, the organisation is critically understaffed with shifts requiring six controllers now frequently manned by only two or three.
“I meet every two weeks with the [airline] industry and ATNS. I spend an enormous amount of time on the phone to the chair of the board. I inherited this situation in which our 320 air traffic navigation procedures have not been reviewed for ten years. This is a requirement that they should be reviewed every five years by the SACAA.
“We have a six-month exemption for certain of what we call the in-flight procedures. We’ve now submitted 23 priority procedures to the Civil Aviation Authority for verification and approval,” Creecy said.
She said traffic passengers would be extremely irritated by the situation at King Phalo in East London and Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Port Elizabeth.
“When we have bad weather, we have flight delays and total flight cancellations and it’s those priority procedures that we’ve been working on so that we have authorised procedures for both runways in the event of bad weather.”
Public Protector
Creecy said the Department of Transport has been in touch with the Public Protectors office with regards to the matter.
“The Public Protector is doing the investigation; we will cooperate fully. We don’t think it’s a good idea to have parallel investigations in this situation.”
In August, Creecy gave ATNS two weeks to resolve the navigation suspension at some South African airports.
Creecy convened an urgent oversight meeting to discuss the ongoing flight delays at various airports across the country.
Flight approaches
This meeting came after ATNS suspended procedures for all instrument-navigation flight approaches at airports in George, Kimberley, Polokwane, Mthatha and Richards Bay indefinitely on Friday
The suspension has severely affected flights to these airports.
Other airports, including OR Tambo, Cape Town, Upington and East London seem to still have at least one approved approach available.
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