South Africa's State-owned Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) has signed a two-year contract with Embraer Group company Atech to replace ATNS's current air traffic flow management (ATFM) system.

The solution will be deployed at the main air traffic control centre at OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, and will include a disaster and recovery centre to ensure operational continuity, as well as a training and simulation environment for staff training, and system testing.

South Africa handles about 283 000 flights a year, connecting more than 20 domestic and 35 international destinations, and is one of the main air transport hubs on the African continent.

The new system will enhance airspace planning and coordination by proactively balancing the number of scheduled flights with the available capacity of airports and sectors. This enables more accurate responses to factors such as weather, construction or operational restrictions; allows schedule adjustments in coordination with airlines and airports; reduces delays; and increases operational predictability and safety.

“This new contract with ATNS reinforces our international expansion strategy and Atech’s commitment to delivering high-impact air traffic management solutions. The new system will result in a more efficient, resilient and predictable operational environment, delivering tangible benefits for passengers, airlines, airports and improving the competitiveness of South Africa’s civil aviation system,” says Atech CEO Rodrigo Persico.

The new ATFM system follows the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organization Document 9971 and incorporates demand-capacity balancing and collaborative decision-making tools to be used in the pre-tactical and tactical phases.

Further, airport slot management will allow airlines to negotiate schedules and submit flight intentions in advance, while facilitating strategic airspace planning.

The ATFM system also includes real-time dashboards for operation monitoring and key performance indicators for post-analysis assessment; coordination of cross-border ATFM measures with neighbouring flight information regions (FIRs), allowing integration with an ATFM multi-nodal network.

The contract includes an initial and integrated flight plan system, resulting in reduced flight plan processing time and manual work.

Other features of the new system include an airspace management and coordination system for processing flexible use of airspace at the strategic, pre-tactical and tactical levels; and an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) flow management system, responsible for managing and coordinating the UTM airspace for ATNS.

The contract is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2027.