Creecy adopts report that investigated problems with air traffic control

A committee established by transport minister Barbara Creecy to investigate problems at Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) found there were critical staffing shortages, particularly in the air traffic service, and that critical communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems were not as reliable as they should be. 

The committee found that flight procedures were suspended as a result of not being maintained.

Creecy's committee of aviation experts concluded its first preliminary diagnostic report and it was adopted by the minister and the ATNS board this week for immediate implementation. 

Department of transport's Collen Msibi said the committee which was established on December 12 last year and given to the end of January this year to finalise the preliminary report, made diagnostic findings related to safety and service delivery. 

He said the work on implementing the recommendation to stabilise the organisation will start immediately but rebuilding the organisation to implement its mandate fully will take time.

“Immediate interventions will focus on improving staffing, ensuring the reliability of critical systems, maintaining instrument flight procedures, as well as governance improvements to improve single-point accountability,” he said.

The committee recommended the process of accelerating the recruitment of critical staff, including air traffic service staff, flight procedure designers, surveyors, technical support staff, engineers and training instructors.

This process is expected to take 18 months to three years to be fully implemented. The committee recommended an urgent upgrade of communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems. This will include enhancements to the Air Traffic Management System, the air traffic flow management system and communication systems.

Steps should be taken to ensure the maintenance of instrument flight procedures which were the root cause of the most recent flight delays. Governance processes should be improved and prioritised to enable single-point accountability to allow efficient implementation.

Creecy emphasised the recommendations would be implemented immediately by the ATNS board and management, with the advice of the intervention committee. She said her office will monitor progress. 

“I am meeting the captains of the aviation industry on Friday to secure their support and co-operation. I am confident that these actions will ensure that South Africa continues to provide safe and efficient operations in its airspace,” she said. 

The committee was established to investigate the root cause of problems that have affected the ATNS in recent times regarding flight instrument procedures.

Creecy believed that ATNS required a deeper diagnosis of its problems after months of working with the ATNS and the aviation industry to deal with the submission of revised flight procedures to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).

“A process that saw numerous flight procedures returned to the ATNS for improvement. The ATNS has also lost part of its technical capacity due to resignation of air traffic controllers and brain drain,” said Msibi. 

The committee will function for six months. It will advise the ATNS board and the executive management on the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.

Meanwhile, the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) has expressed concern and frustration with the recent rash of incidents that disrupted airline operations over the summer peak travel season and throughout January.

The association said airlines are still feeling the adverse impact of the very slow pace of restoring the 326 instrument flight procedures countrywide that ATNS withdrew in July 2024.

Added to the association's concerns is last weekend’s cyber breach at the SA Weather Service that has disrupted the provision of aviation weather observations and forecasts which it said are mission-critical for flights.

“Airlines and passengers pay statutory user charges to the various state aviation agencies for the provision of reliable, safe, efficient and affordable services. However, AASA is concerned that ACSA, ATNS and SAWS applied to their respective economic regulators for new tariff increases when they have been unable to provide the full range of the services that they have been paid for,” said AASA CEO Aaron Munetsi.

“At the same time, the airlines are bearing the brunt in terms of ensuring that they meet their commitments to their customers by having to provide alternatives for disrupted operations.”

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