South Africa’s Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) is focusing on four workstreams to fix problems that have been affecting the country’s major airports.
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy highlighted her department’s overhaul of the state-owned entity during a media briefing this week after the precautionary suspension of ATNS CEO, Nozipho Mdawe.
Creecy had earlier met with the ATNS board and management to discuss her suspension pending an investigation into whether she failed to properly fulfil her duties as head of the state-owned entity.
The minister ordered the ATNS board to appoint an independent law firm to investigate Mdawe’s conduct in fulfilling her duties during her tenure.
This comes after Creecy appointed an intervention team in December to probe the serious difficulties that ATNS had been facing in delivering its services.
A draft report in January identified four problem areas – critical staff shortages, flight procedures, communication equipment, and systematic weaknesses safety management systems. Teams are focusing on these workstreams to mitigate these problems.
Creecy said ATNS would apply to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) for a limited extension on alternative means of compliance for 35 priority flight procedures that needed to be updated.
A total of 66 flight procedures will expire on April 10 after SACAA earlier granted special dispensation for outdated flight procedures in the country.
Creecy said the 66 procedures were divided into two categories, with 35 relating to large airports including OR Tambo International Airport, King Shaka International Airport, Cape Town International Airport, Lanseria International Airport, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, King Phalo Airport and George Airport.
However, these procedures would not be ready by the April deadline, which was why ATNS had applied for an extension to be able to continue to use the current procedures for these airports.
Creecy said ATNS would need to apply for a longer term extension to comply with the rules for the procedures for smaller airports including Polokwane Gateway Airport, Richards Bay Airport, Upington International Airport, Mthatha Airport and Kruger Mpulalanga International Airport.
She said the main priority was to ensure all major network airports could still operate, while submissions for smaller airports were being processed.
A flight procedure is a set of instructions for aircraft navigation, designed to facilitate safe operations, especially in low-visibility conditions, and includes procedures for departures, arrivals, and approach.
However, in a worst-case scenario if no extension is granted, aircraft would still be able to fly although this could present a safety risk.
“The most important issue is safety …we are working to ensure that we will be able to continue to fly on instruments (solely by referencing cockpit instruments rather than relying on outside visual cues like clouds) to the big airports. If we land up with a situation, worst-case scenario, it may mean that in bad weather, flights will be delayed to smaller airports,” Creecy explained.
She said to address staff shortages, ATNS had already advertised for air traffic controllers, flight procedure specialists, air traffic instructors and other skilled staff. So far two former ATNS officials have been appointed and formal offers would be made to 13 additional skilled personnel this week.
She said ATNS was also on an international head-hunting mission to recruit ten instructors.
Creecy said computer hardware and air traffic flow management systems original equipment manufacturers would respond to a request for assistance by mid-April, while ten priority ground-to-air radio communication services were currently in the process of being implemented.
She said a safety review board had been established to govern the management of ATNS’s safety performance and that the service had already implemented recommendations of safety investigation reports.
