In a hard-hitting and wide-ranging final speech to the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (the representative body for international, regional and local airlines and ground handlers operating to, from and within South Africa), outgoing local and regional carrier Airlink CEO and MD Rodger Foster gave particular attention to the state of South Africa’s State-owned air traffic management and control agency, Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS).  “ATNS has created a serious safety risk,” he warned.

“We are still denied the use of almost 300 instrument flight procedures that were perfectly fine to use until mid-July 2024 when ATNS missed its deadline to submit the revalidation paperwork to the [South African Civil Aviation Authority] for re-approval,” he highlighted. “Instrument flight procedures are fundamental to operational safety. By withdrawing them, as a fig leaf for its administrative failure, ATNS is obliging pilots to operate aircraft with far narrower margins than any of us would like.”

All airlines operating in South Africa had invested in modern airliners, fitted with the latest-technology flight and navigation management systems. They had also, through the fees they paid to ATNS, invested in ground-based safety systems, including instrument landing systems, which allowed aircraft to operate safely in all weather conditions. “But when instrument flight procedures are withdrawn, we are prohibited from using those operational safety aids and equipment,” he pointed out. “How can this possibly be ‘safe’?”

Further, it has been revealed that the Alternative Means of Compliance employed to allow the use of some procedures at key airports will expire early in April. This had huge implications for Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA), Cape Town International Airport, Durban’s King Shaka International Airport, Port Elizabeth’s Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, and George Airport. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy had stated that the restoration of the procedures at the main airports, such as ORTIA and Cape Town, would be prioritised. But that implied that all the smaller airports would suffer.

For a long time, Airlink and the industry had been warning that “ATNS was a crisis waiting to happen”. They had been urging the fast-track recruitment of air traffic controllers and air space designers.  “And while it is encouraging to read the Minister’s reassurance that the training pipeline is being re-established and air traffic controllers are being recruited, it is very much a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.”

Foster also called for executive accountability at ATNS. Although almost nine months had elapsed since the original total of 326 instrument flight procedures had been withdrawn, ATNS’ board and top management still appeared to have no idea of the scale of the crisis, not merely for airlines and their passengers, but for the national economy. “And so it was not surprising to learn that the Minister has instructed the ATNS board to suspend the CEO pending the outcome of an investigation into the fulfilment of her duties.”

Meanwhile, airlines still had to pay ATNS charges (which were set to increase) for services that it was not providing. And those services it did provide were often inefficient, driving up airline costs. These inefficiencies included long queues at runway holding points, excessive routings, diversions and holding patterns. Such inefficiencies had cost Airlink alone R55-million over the past year.

“It’s also sabotaging the economy,” he charged. ATNS inadequacies that caused flights to be delayed, diverted or even cancelled. This drove up airline operating costs (costs which could not be recovered), caused passengers and/or their luggage to miss connecting flights, which adversely affected the country’s tourist industry. They also disrupted air cargo flows. Such disruptions were especially serious when they affected pharmaceutical or other perishable cargoes (by breaking their temperature-controlled transit chain) or South African-produced automotive components (causing them to miss their just-in-time delivery dates, disrupting overseas assembly lines).

“This problem is bigger than ATNS, it is a national crisis, and we all need to pull together to address it, rule makers, referees and players alike,” he affirmed.