Strong winds in Johannesburg on Wednesday, August 14, meant that Air Traffic Navigation Services' (ATNS) delay in finalising its audit of instrument approaches at certain airports caught up with it, causing flight delays for both international and domestic departures at OR Tambo International Airport.
Johannesburg experienced wind coming in at 190 degrees and 16 knots yesterday which meant that Standard Instrument Departures and Arrivals that serve operations for Runway 21 at OR Tambo were unavailable yesterday.
Generally, we would experience delays when the wind direction favours this particular Runway 21, especially during high peak periods, which was the case today. The result of this requires ATNS to regulate the demand to ensure that available capacity is not exceeded and safety is prioritised at all times, ATNS said in a media update yesterday.
Linden Birns , MD of Plane Talking and an experienced aviation PR man, said when the initial delays were announced, the need for safety was a given.
Nobody is disputing that safety compliance reviews have to be conducted on a regular basis. The issue here is that, as a result of poor planning and poor execution, it was not done in time, and this is now causing disruption to air services, saidBirns to Travel News on August 5 .
