Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy , has held an urgent oversight meeting with all transport aviation entities Air Traffic Navigation Services ATNS, Acsa and the South African Civil Aviation Authority SACAA to discuss the ongoing flight disruptions caused by ATNS finalising its audit of instrument approaches at various airports around the country.
In the meeting, Creecy emphasised the need for ATNS to get to the root cause of why the auditing processes were taking so long. She emphasised that it was critical that no corners should be cut in relation to safety.
The meeting also agreed that ATNS must, as a matter of urgency, develop a comprehensive plan for consideration and approval by the Minister.
The plan must be costed with realistic timeframes as well as indicate the technical capacity required to review all flight instrument procedures. ATNS was instructed to submit this plan within two weeks from the date of the meeting on August 20. Once an acceptable plan is in place, it will be shared with the aviation industry and the nation, the Department of Transport said.
ProgressInstrument flight procedures areused by aircraft flying in accordance with instrument flight rules and are designed to facilitate safe and efficient aircraft operations.
