Transport Minister, Barbara Creecy, has approved an urgent overhaul of Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) following a preliminary diagnostic report from her committee of aviation experts. The report identified severe staffing shortages, unreliable systems, and a backlog of suspended instrument flight procedures as key issues.

The suspension and delayed approval of 326 instrument flight procedures have had serious consequences for airlines, the Airlines Association of South Africa (Aasa) told the Minister of Transport.

“ATNS failed to deliver on its assurances that procedures would be reinstated by the summer peak travel season for priority key airports such as George. As we have seen at George, the unavailability of the relevant instrument flight procedure disqualified the use of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) for Runway 11, the runway in use when the winds are from the east. This resulted in numerous delayed and cancelled flights to and from George, aggravation for travellers and additional operating costs for airlines,” explained Aaron Munetsi, CEO of Aasa.

The Committee found that ATNS suffers from critical staff shortages, unreliable communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems, and a backlog of suspended flight procedures due to a lack of maintenance.

In response, Creecy and the ATNS Board have approved the immediate implementation of reforms. The committee will function for a period of six months and advise the ATNS Board and the executive management on the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.

The interventions will focus on:

• Expediting the recruitment of critical staff, including air traffic service staff, flight procedure designers, surveyors, technical support staff, engineers and training instructors. This process will take between 18 months and three years to be fully implemented. 
• Undertaking an urgent upgrade of CNS systems, including the Air Traffic Management System, Air Traffic Flow Management System and Communication systems. 
• Taking steps to ensure the maintenance of instrument flight procedures.
• Prioritising and improving the governance processes to enable a single point accountability to allow for efficient implementation.

“These recommendations will be implemented immediately by the ATNS Board and management, with the advice of the Intervention Committee. My office will monitor progress closely,” said Creecy.