South Africa\u2019s biggest domestic airline says air-traffic control constraints are forcing it to tailor flight schedules to take account of capacity restrictions at the country\u2019s busiest airports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
FlySafair, which carries more than half of South Africa\u2019s domestic passengers, said pressure on aircraft movements, particularly at Johannesburg\u2019s OR Tambo International Airport, has become a constraint on network planning even as Air Traffic and Navigation Services works to restore staffing levels and modernise systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Runway and air-traffic management capacity are now the low-cost carrier\u2019s biggest operational constraints, \u201cprincipally at OR Tambo, where it shows up as departure delays and extended taxi times,\u201d Chief Marketing Officer Kirby Gordon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ATNS acknowledged \u201coperational challenges over the past few years\u201d, but pointed to \u201csignificant progress that has been made in restoring and strengthening the country\u2019s flight procedure capability and the resilience of the overall air-navigation system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Safair hasn\u2019t delayed or cancelled planned route launches because of ATNS, the limitations have become \u201ca factor we now have to design our schedules around, which means we can\u2019t always build the network we\u2019d optimally like to,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa\u2019s aviation sector has spent the past two years grappling with shortages of air-traffic controllers and lapses in maintaining instrument flight procedures \u2014 the pre-approved routes pilots rely on when visibility is poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 340 procedures expired or were suspended last year after ATNS failed to complete their maintenance on time, contributing to repeated flight delays and, in some cases, cancellations during poor weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy appointed an expert intervention team in late 2024, following the problems escalating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its findings pointed to critical shortages of air traffic controllers, unreliable communications and navigation systems, suspended instrument procedures, and weaknesses in safety governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the government has begun recruiting staff and upgrading systems, it warned earlier this year that many procedures wouldn\u2019t be restored before temporary exemptions expired, requiring authorities to prioritise the country\u2019s busiest airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar air-traffic control staffing shortages have disrupted operations at airports around the world, from Newark to Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFlight schedules should be developed with due regard to operational realities and safety considerations, and not solely on commercial objectives,\u201d ATNS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnrealistic scheduling assumptions can contribute to operational inefficiencies, stakeholder frustration, and increased safety risk for both pilots and air traffic controllers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the problems, Gordon said South Africa continues to maintain a strong aviation safety record, and the industry and ATNS remain aligned on ensuring it is never compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ATNS\u2019s challenges are adding to broader pressures on airlines. FlySafair has said that weaker demand following the introduction of fuel surcharges as oil prices climbed due to the US-Iran war has made expansion less attractive, and that fuel costs have weighed on margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, what the industry needs is stability and certainty, Gordon said. \u201cA stable, well-resourced air-traffic system serves all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reported by Janice Kew for Bloomberg. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa\u2019s biggest domestic airline says air-traffic control constraints are forcing it to tailor flight schedules to take account of capacity restrictions at the country\u2019s busiest airports. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":789991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2080160486453055693","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[10020,19767,853],"class_list":["post-867158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-flysafair","tag-or-tambo-international-airport","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867159,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867158\/revisions\/867159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}