A rash of incidents over the past few weeks, indicating problems in provision and/or maintenance of the infrastructure provided by the South African government for the aviation industry, have raised eyebrows.
Aaron Munetsi , CEO of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) has called on the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy , to intervene and ensure these avoidable failures are resolved, and fast.
Munetsi voiced airlines concerns about the current situation and sent out a strong message in a statement saying that the recent failure of infrastructure, along with other missteps by government affecting aviation, all signalled an indifference to the aviation industry and a failure by government to grasp its significant contribution to the countrys economy.
Sunday evenings power outage at Cape Town International Airport caused numerous local and foreign airlines flights to and from the airport to be delayed and diverted, inconveniencing travellers and burdening carriers with additional costs and strainedoperations.
The breakdown at this economically strategic facility follows the Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) indefinite suspension of flight approaches to nine of the countrys airports after it missed a deadline to complete mandatory reviews and to re-design any approaches that it found to be unfit for purpose.
