South Africa's skies may be the “safest on the continent”, but the aviation industry is transforming very slowly when it comes to pilots and engineers.
According to South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) pilot licence statistics for October 2023, males still dominate in all grades at 87% while women remain hugely underrepresented at 13%.
White males make up 72% of pilots across categories, including commercial (aeroplane and helicopter), airline transport (aeroplane and helicopter), private (aeroplane and helicopter), national, balloon, glider and remote (drone pilots). African males account for 10%, with coloured and Indian males making up a combined 4.5%. White females comprise 6%, African females 5.5% and coloureds and Indians 2%.
Males also dominate the aircraft maintenance engineering field at 95%. Of the 5,841 licensed in South Africa, 3,734 are white males. There are only 231 African female aircraft engineers, 32 white and 13 coloureds and Indians.
African females are well represented in cabin crew at 996 of the 2,434 licensed. They are followed by white females at 482 and coloured females at 359. Interestingly, there are more African female air traffic controllers in South Africa at 237 out of 901, followed by African males at 220 and white males at 203.
At least 6,706 foreign pilots, aircraft engineers, cabin crew and air traffic controllers have been licensed in South Africa.
We want women as pilots, we want women as aeronautical engineers, we want women in these sophisticated careers in the aviation sector.
— Transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga
“We have a number of women who work as cabin crew members. It is good, but it still sends you to the kitchen. We want women as pilots, we want women as aeronautical engineers, we want women in these sophisticated careers in the aviation sector,” transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga told Business Times on the sidelines of last week's Aviation Industry Awards.
Of the few women occupying technical and engineering positions, even fewer were black, she added.
“We want to bring our black and young women into the aviation sector. We can also own airlines. Nothing is preventing us from owning an airline, it can be done. We want to maintain and manage our airports. We want to participate in the businesses that are happening in our airports as women, as blacks, as the previously disadvantaged,” Chikunga said.
South Africa, however, is still ranked No 1 in aviation safety on the continent and among the top 20 safest countries in which to fly, according to the Canadian-based International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
There were 113 accidents involving certified and general aviation aircraft between April 2022 and March 2023, and none involving commercial aircraft. The number of accidents is down from 147 in financial year 2023. There were 56 fatal accidents recorded between April 2022 and March 2023 and 72 fatalities.
In addition to its leading safety rankings, the domestic aviation industry retained its category 1 status in 2022 after a US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) audit. The FAA found South Africa adheres to ICAO civil aviation safety standards, said Chikunga.
“For the US, you are either category 1 or category 2. If you are category 2, it means you have failed. We continue to retain the status of category 1, which means our airlines can fly to the US, and because it is the US, it is a powerhouse. It says to EU countries ... that South Africa is good enough ... to fly to you.”
However, the government is still concerned about the safety of small, privately owned planes.
“There are incidents and accidents. We have a policy in this regard. It is giving us the results we need, but we still have some accidents,” said the minister.
General or light aviation is inherently more dangerous than its commercial counterpart because light aircraft have one engine, whereas bigger aeroplanes have two or more, said Guy Leitch, editor of SA Flyer magazine.
The real difference, he added, is safety culture. “The huge safety management system that supports the airline industry ... insists on extremely high standards.”
These are not necessarily in place in the general aviation industry, particularly when it comes to private recreational flying, Leitch said.
“So people can build their own aeroplanes and fly them because the risk is theirs. That is why there is inherently more risk in general aviation than there is in airline operations. That is the way it is and it is going to continue to be that way because of the costs of adhering to safety measures.
“People who buy an airline ticket expect it to be safe, and indeed, it is incredibly safe, it is unbelievably safe. The general aviation industry cannot afford that level of safety systems and standards otherwise it will just never get off the ground.”
Leitch blamed slow transformation on mathematics and science education failures in state schools, saying there has not been enough development of interest in aviation in previously disadvantaged communities.
“So people do not say they will be able to one day fly an aircraft, whereas their more privileged counterparts already have parents or uncles who fly aeroplanes, so they have a natural passion for it. There have been a number of good attempts to do so. It has not been for lack of trying that the industry has not been transformed,” he said.
South Africa boasts a number of successful airlines and its general aviation industry is regarded as one of the biggest in the world.
Leitch said while the global aviation industry has largely bounced back from the pandemic, it is still struggling. “[South Africa] lost four major airlines during Covid-19. We lost British Airways and Kulula, we lost Mango and we also lost SA Express slightly earlier. We have lost a key number of carriers, yet the other carriers, particularly FlySafair, Airlink and Cemair, have rapidly increased their sizes and fleets, and have stepped into the gap.
“A lot of the industry is struggling because of the burdens of regulation and high costs. This is because aircraft maintenance and fuel costs are dollar-denominated and things are a lot more expensive.”
Chikunga, however, is bullish about the industry, saying the government wants South Africa to be a global passenger and cargo hub from which travellers from all over the world are able to connect to other countries on the continent.
“OR Tambo Airport has been that and we want to retain that status. You compete with a number of countries on the continent. We say we can retain that status. The same applies to our air cargo. We want to excel. Covid-19 taught us there is business in air cargo.”
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