Two airports in South Africa have experienced multiple disruptions resulting in flight delays.
George Airport in the Western Cape and King Phalo Airport in the Eastern Cape have both reported problems caused by faulty instrument landing systems, preventing pilots from landing their aircraft in low visibility conditions.
Problems for South Africa’s airports
The issues experienced by the two airports highlight the regulatory failings of the Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS), which is responsible for reviewing critical instrument flight procedures in South Africa.
These procedures include predetermined departure, arrival, and landing manoeuvres that ensure aircraft avoid obstacles while maintaining the flow of air traffic.
Consequently, these procedures require frequent recalibration, revalidation, and servicing to ensure they account for new obstacles and other factors.
The ATNS is responsible for this task, however, it was recently revealed that the service failed to meet administrative deadlines to review hundreds of procedures across the country.
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy previously instructed a team to investigate why the ATNS had failed to review the procedures for George and East London’s King Phalo Airport, whereupon it was discovered that the service had been requested and ignored.
Aviation expert Phuthego Mojapele explained to the City Press that the issues experienced at George began when FlySafair increased the number of daily flights from Lanseria to the Western Cape town as the ATNS services were ill-prepared for this move.
He expressed that Creecy should therefore appear in parliament to reveal the report’s full findings and put together a plan to fix the problem facing Airports Company South Africa’s (ACSA’s) facilities.
On the minister’s end, she explained that the Department of Transport (DoT) has made progress in its intervention with the ATNS.
“I appointed an intervention team to get to the root of problems at the air traffic navigation services,” she said.
“From early January this year, we have had four work streams that have been addressing critical staff shortages and problems relating to communications systems between towers.”
The ATNS’s shortcomings are partially attributed to a lack of manpower, as the local aviation industry has been losing staff to competitors overseas with better salary offers.
Creecy said that the DoT’s intervention team is busy appointing critical staff at the ATNS, and has already recruited two people out of a planned group of 15.
“We are making offers to 13 others, and we have sent out headhunters to find senior ATNS staff working elsewhere around the globe to offer them incentives to return,” she said.
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