The Airline Association of Southern Africa (AASA) has raised concerns about operational inefficiencies and safety failures in SA, citing the continuing suspension of more than 200 instrument flight procedures by the country’s Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) at airports across the country.
According to AASA CEO Aaron Munetsi, this continues to disrupt airline operations and cost airlines millions of dollars in additional fuel, engine wear and maintenance, crew flight duty, flight operations support, customer compensation and reputational damage.
“The failure to design, manage and maintain airspace cannot be dismissed as an ‘inconvenience’. It needs to be seen for what it is: an economic disaster which demands a commensurate emergency disaster response. The lack of urgency is reflected in the glacial pace at which approval renewals were being processed,” Munetsi said on Friday during his keynote address at AASA’s 55th annual assembly in Lusaka, Zambia.
Mphilo Dlamini, head of corporate affairs and communications at ATNS, is attending AASA’s annual assembly in Lusaka and says that ATNS acknowledges the concerns raised by the airline body.
“ATNS has always updated the industry regarding the progress around the instrument flight procedure maintenance project. We updated the industry about the recent suspension of flight procedures at Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, Polokwane International Airport and Dawid Stuurman International Airport,” Dlamini told Business Day on Friday in reaction to Munetsi’s speech.
“The current status is that these suspended procedures have been updated and submitted to our regulatory authorities for validation and approval. We are expecting to have these procedures operational again as soon as approval from the regulator is received.
“The notion and perception that ATNS is failing to update and manage these procedures could not be further from the truth. ATNS is committed to ensuring the maintenance of the instrument flight procedures is concluded soonest.”
AASA represents most of the airlines in the SADC region on matters of common interest. The association is calling on governments in Africa to invest in digital border and customs systems and to relax restrictive visa regimes that deter travel.
The association also wants to see Mozambique and other governments with foreign reserves release airlines’ blocked funds and let local airlines access foreign currency to purchase aircraft spare parts and cover other dollar-priced costs.
Africa represents only 2% of the global air transport market. To boost the industry on the continent, Munetsi proposes a strategy consisting of six key interventions.
First, safety and standards need to be harmonised among countries, and mutual licensing and certification recognised to support the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). This project was launched by the African Union already in 2018 as SAATM, but despite many signatories, actual implementation has been slow.
Second, the aviation supply chain needs to be addressed, because the global shortage of aircraft and parts is expected to cost African airlines more than $220m in additional supply chain-related costs this year alone.
Third, financial sustainability is needed by ensuring state-owned airlines are run soundly, and fourth, environmental sustainability needs to be addressed by governments facilitating investments in locally produced sustainable aviation fuel and by improving aviation infrastructure services and operational procedures as well.
Developing people and skills is the fifth prong, and the sixth is eliminating archaic protectionist practices by rolling back what AASA deems to be excessive taxes and charges on air transport.
“Aviation is not a luxury, it is an economic lifeline,” Munetsi concluded.
