Barbara Creecy Urges ATNS to Prioritise Passenger Safety for Peak Season Amidst Key Operational Updates

The Department of Transport highlighted that these steps are vital to ensuring ATNS’s readiness to manage the increased holiday traffic while delivering on their commitment to passenger safety and service excellence.

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has called on the Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) to ensure passenger safety remains the top priority during the upcoming holiday season. Speaking at a bi-weekly meeting with the ATNS and aviation sector leaders on Thursday, Creecy emphasized that safe, efficient air traffic management is essential during the peak period when passenger volumes are high.

The meeting featured ATNS’s comprehensive update on its preparedness for the peak season, including the progress on its instrument flight procedure enhancement plan, which has been designed to bolster operational efficiency and safety. As part of this update, the ATNS confirmed that it plans to submit critical flight procedures for review and approval by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) by the end of November 2024. This submission will enable ATNS to deploy these approved procedures by December, ensuring a streamlined peak travel season for South Africa’s airspace.

To further secure compliance, ATNS reported that all procedures currently operating under Alternative Means of Compliance (AMOC) or exemptions would remain valid throughout the peak season, maintaining operational continuity and safety. Additionally, ATNS committed to a continuous review of project timelines to meet any unexpected demands or requirements, prioritising passenger safety above all.

In terms of staffing, ATNS provided an update on its technical skills development to strengthen operational readiness:

ATNS currently has six Flight Procedure Designers, with two full-time staff and four contract-based designers, all verified and validated by SACAA.

Four contractors are already working on high-priority airports, with a fifth contractor in the onboarding phase.

Discussions are underway to bring two additional service providers on board, expanding ATNS’s contractor pool to seven.

To build future capacity, five trainees are undergoing rigorous on-the-job training with the aim of being fully operational by March 2025.

The Department of Transport highlighted that these steps are vital to ensuring ATNS’s readiness to manage the increased holiday traffic while delivering on their commitment to passenger safety and service excellence.