Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) has devised a five-point instrument flight procedure plan, approved by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), in response to the surge of concerns about South Africa’s failing airline activities.

This follows mishaps ranging from poor maintenance of runway lights to the recent suspension of ATNS, which forced airlines to incur additional expenses in alternative arrangements.

The plan comes as Transport Minister Barbara Creecy, under pressure to take action at the height of concerns of the downgrade of the RSA airspace, mandated reforms from ATNS in early August.

ATNS’s five instrument flight procedures for OR Tambo International Airport and Polokwane International Airport include procedures that are pending approval from the SACAA, which relate to airports that are constantly affected by inclement weather conditions, such as Mthatha, King Phalo in East London and Kimberley airports.

ATNS spokesperson Mphilo Dlamini said the entity had the critical mandate of ensuring air traffic management and safety, and the ongoing instrument flight procedure maintenance programme would try and catch up with international civil aviation regulations and standards.

“As the case with all maintenance programmes, there are costs involved that cater for a variety of inputs and activities such as human resource capacity and technical equipment. ATNS is still in the process of acquiring the requisite capacity and tabulating the quantum of capital investment in the programme. Once the process is completed, budget permutations will be made available to the public,” Dlamini said.

Dlamini said that two contractors had been secured after assessment and validation by the SACAA, with a third contractor undergoing licensing processes and will be contracted by today.

Creecy on Wednesday convened a follow-up meeting between the aviation industry and ATNS in which an updated turnaround plan was presented to address the ongoing flight delays at various airports in the country.

ATNS had from earlier this year negatively impacted South Africa’s airspace mainly due to infrastructure maintenance related issues which raised concerns among international airlines, as they could no longer confidently project return flights into the country, and they were also without a formal platform to voice grievances.

“ATNS suspended operations. It is accepted they have problems with money, capacity and handling frequencies. That is a dangerous precedent, especially after the incident when two oceanic transponders on the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans failed to connect and pilots had to navigate by communicating with each other,” an aviation official said.

South Africa is under the spotlight, as last year it chaired the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialised agency of the UN that co-ordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.

Dlamini said the industry had been reassured of dedicated resources that focus on quality control in order to improve the rate of successful approvals by the SACAA.

Industry players that are part of the ongoing pact include the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA), Airports and Aerodrome Association of Southern Africa (AAASA), Airline Association of Southern Africa (AASA), Lanseria International Airport, International Air Transport Association (Iata), ATNS, and Airports Company South Africa (Acsa).

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