The Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) has indicated that South Africa’s limited number of air traffic controllers has become a major concern that requires immediate and extensive intervention.
ATNS chairman Zola Majavu, in the organisation’s annual report, touched on the problem following many warnings from aviation experts over the last few years.
ATNS manages 6.1% of the world’s airspace, including Southern Africa and large sections of the Southern Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Given this, these warnings should be taken seriously.
The annual report also highlighted that ATNS struggles to fill key positions, especially the 50 ATC employees lost in the last financial year.
Another contributor to this issue is that many foreign air-traffic control services have been poaching South African ATCs, including the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
ATNS noted that the loss of skilled personnel has surpassed its ability to train replacements, and it could not match the offers of international poachers to retain the ATCs.
“Globally, the demanding nature, rigorous training and intense pressure of ATC roles contribute to a scarcity of skilled professionals, a trend also affecting ATNS,” Majavu said.
“While this outflow underscores the high quality of ATNS-trained individuals, who are sought after by international ANSPs, it highlights the urgent need to bolster internal capacity.”
He also explained that this has almost compromised service delivery levels and is a clear sign of a department-specific crisis.
“It is both a challenge and a strategic priority requiring immediate attention and sustained intervention,” he said.
ATNS has created a three-pronged retention strategy for air traffic services staff in response to this issue, including a tiered retention allowance, an off-day buy-back programme, and incentives for on-the-job training instructors.
It also plans to increase controller intakes, enhance its Aviation Training Academy’s infrastructure, and conduct extensive research into market factors to help prevent future poaching.
“Exit data will be analysed and continuous engagement mechanisms instituted to better understand drivers of attrition and refine workforce planning efforts,” Majavu said.
Long-time coming
Aviation experts have long warned that South Africa’s issue with a lack of air traffic controllers would create problems for flight safety.
This is because with fewer controllers, the workload on the remaining controllers increases considerably, meaning mistakes can be made more easily.
Along with this, the reduced manpower has also led to the failure to maintain instrument procedures.
At least 326 of these procedures were suspended at one point or another during the 2025 financial year. The issue is particularly pervasive at smaller airports.
As a result of these inefficiencies and mistakes, airlines’ operational costs also increase over time to accommodate delays.
Such delays result in planes burning more fuel to stay in the air longer as they wait for their chance to land.
In terms of safety, flight instrument procedures must be reviewed every five years to ensure they remain accurate, relevant, and fit for purpose; however, Plane Talking managing director Linden Birns has warned that some of these procedures have not been reviewed for over a decade.
“Instrument procedures enable the safe navigation and coordination of aircraft between and within busy airspace, regardless of the time of day and in all but the most severe weather conditions,” he said.
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