Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) will seek additional extensions from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for temporary alternative means of compliance (AMOC) on flight procedures at certain airports, including OR Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka.

During a briefing on ATNS last week, Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, confirmed that ATNS was currently operating under temporary alternative means of compliance for certain procedures at several airports, with these set to expire on April 10. If extensions are not granted, flight operations across the country could be affected. Creecy has said that it was unlikely that the flight procedures would be ready before April.  

In a briefing on March 17, Creecy explained that ATNS had divided the procedures into two categories, and would prioritise applications for extensions of AMOCs at large airports.

“The first category is procedures that relate to the large airports; OR Tambo International Airport, Cape Town International Airport, King Shaka International Airport, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, and George Airport. There are 35 flight procedures that are covered in that category, and we don't think that these will all be ready by April 8. We are submitting an application to the CAA to get a limited extension on the AMOCs for these 35 priority procedures,” said Creecy.

The second category consists of procedures at smaller airports in Polokwane, Richards Bay, Upington, Bloemfontein, Mthatha and Kruger. Creecy explained that ATNS would apply for longer-term AMOC extensions for these airports, and might submit these flight procedures for approval later in April and in May.

“Our priority is to make sure that the major network airports are able to function. If we land up in the worst-case scenario where we don't have any extension, it may mean that in bad weather, flights will be delayed to smaller airports,” said Creecy.

During the briefing, Creecy said many of the procedures were initially rejected due to incomplete or inaccurate submissions from ATNS.

“We were told that these flight procedures had been submitted, but a flight procedure is not considered submitted by the CAA until certain charts are submitted. I've asked the Board to launch an investigation and I'm told that process is in motion,” said Creecy.

An intervention team has been deployed to assist the ATNS interim CEO and strengthen ATNS’s capacity. Creecy explained that the team were looking to assess and offer jobs to procedure specialists, among others, who previously worked at ATNS.

During the recent Board of Airlines Representatives of South Africa Summit, Rodger Foster, the outgoing CEO and MD of Airlink, highlighted that the continued failure of ATNS to receive approval for its procedures had compromised the safety of civil aviation in South Africa.

“We are still denied the use of almost 300 instrument flight procedures that were perfectly fine to use until mid-July 2024 when ATNS missed its deadline to submit the revalidation paperwork for re-approval,” said Foster. “Instrument flight procedures are fundamental to operational safety. By withdrawing them, as a fig leaf for its administrative failure, ATNS is obliging pilots to operate aircraft with far narrower margins than any of us would like.”

The CAA had not responded at the time of publishing.