Air Traffic & Navigation Services (ATNS) finds it necessary to share with the aviation industry and the South African public our plans to fix the recent flight disruptions that have caused considerable inconvenience to many.
In “Mayday call for SA aviation industry”, (Newsmaker, November 3), pertinent issues are raised related to the provision of air navigation services, some of which ATNS fully acknowledges and accepts.
But there are critical points in the article that cannot go without comment.
Let us begin with the issue of suspended instrument flight procedures, which has dominated the public domain and is continuously cited as the main reason for the recent disruptions, such as flight delays, cancellations and diversions.
ATNS suspended several instrument flight procedures from various airports in July in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation and South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) design criteria on procedures for aircraft operations. Also, in terms of our safety management system, procedures that do not meet these requirements should be suspended unless such noncompliance is mitigated.
ATNS has highlighted reasons behind the backlog in reviewing and updating these procedures to meet the required global aviation standards: the loss of critical skills to global aviation companies has been the biggest contributor, and we had a difficult recovery path after an almost two-year lapse in the maintenance programme during the Covid period.
ATNS has developed a comprehensive turnaround plan that was presented to the minister of transport and the aviation industry. The plan clearly describes the interventions ATNS has employed to resolve the challenge.
Key to the strategy is the sourcing of flight procedure design skills capacity. The organisation has enlisted the services of five external contractors to augment the current two ATNS full-time flight procedure design specialists. ATNS is also engaging two more service providers for a planned total of seven contractors. In addition, five ATNS trainees are undergoing on-the-job training and should be ready to join the two full-time flight procedure design specialists by March 2025.
It is crucial to highlight that the minister of transport convenes biweekly meetings with the ATNS and key industry stakeholders to track progress on the turnaround plan. The most recent one was on Tuesday this week. Since the inception of these engagements in the past three months, significant progress has been made in resolving the flight procedure issues. We also use the platform to appraise the aviation industry of peak season plans; we are on track to submit all urgent procedures in time to co-ordinate approval by SACAA and for operational use by the end of this month. We continue to rely on procedures under alternative means of compliance, or exemptions, which will be valid during this period.
Another significant challenge facing the organisation is the retention of our people, especially experienced air traffic controllers who are being lured to other countries, especially the Middle East, Australia and Europe
Another significant challenge facing the organisation is the retention of our people, especially experienced air traffic controllers who are being lured to other countries, especially the Middle East, Australia and Europe, to mention a few markets. This is not a phenomenon unique to ATNS as there is a huge global shortage of these aviation skills and South Africans are some of the most sought-after in the world, due to the quality of training and their experience.
The organisation is continuously developing a variety of retention mechanisms aimed at stabilising staffing levels to curtail the attrition rate. Air traffic controller roles are high stress, making retention our key focus and priority. We recently concluded a workforce assessment that indicated a need for proactive retention strategies to counter high staff turnover. The initiatives align with ATNS’s objectives of ensuring safe, continuous air navigation service and operational excellence.
The retention strategy aims to support broader long-term talent management and boost training pipeline capacity. Prior to the pandemic, we used to train about 40 bursary beneficiaries a year, to feed the attrition rate, but that had to pause for two years during Covid, which contributed to the current shortages. We are in the process of closing that gap, with an increased annual intake of about 60 bursars a year over the past two years.
Another strategy is to headhunt former ATNS colleagues who left for other countries but are willing to come home. We have reached out to global air navigation service providers that “poach” our talent to enter into co-operation agreements to mitigate talent loss.
We can also clarify that when ATNS regulates air traffic through air traffic flow management initiatives, various reasons are normally at play, not necessarily the staffing issue alone. Sometimes the reason is an abnormal situation such as weather, blocked runways or other factors. These measures are always implemented in the interest of air traffic safety.
The process of tariff determination is not carried out unilaterally by ATNS. It is an industry consultative process led by the regulating committee as provided by legislation. The final tariff is promulgated by the government on the recommendation of the committee after extensive processes have been exhausted.
ATNS recognises the inconvenience caused and apologises to all those affected; we have redoubled our efforts to resolve all these issues. We also reiterate our commitment to delivering continuous improvement of our safety performance and to provide efficient air traffic management solutions and associated services that meet the needs and expectations of the aviation industry locally, across the continent and in selected international markets.
• Dlamini is head of corporate affairs and communications at ATNS
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