Aviation Co-ordination Services (ACS) says the grenade incident at OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) could have been prevented if Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) hadn’t blocked efforts to replace outdated baggage screening equipment.
In May, Acsa lost an appeal against a November 2024 court ruling that stopped it from terminating its contract with ACS and taking over hold baggage screening (HBS) services at OR Tambo and King Shaka airports, as reported by Travel News.
ACS, which was created by the airline industry as the legally mandated HBS provider, claims Acsa has been obstructing its operations for years.
“For the past eight years, Acsa has prevented ACS from replacing HBS equipment at airports with more advanced and reliable screening technology,” said ACS in a media statement.
ACS believes that if it had been allowed to carry out its planned equipment upgrades earlier, the grenade security incident that took place on May 25 might never have occurred.
ACS explained that the modern HBS equipment it would have installed reduced the potential for human error as it is equipped with AI algorithms and 3D-screening technology to detect possible threats.
“While the ACS investigation (into the grenade incident) concluded that human error was the immediate cause of the incident, it is critical that it be viewed in the broader context of the long-standing obstruction, by Acsa, of ACS’s efforts to replace the HBS equipment with more advanced and reliable screening technology,” said ACS. “It is clear that Acsa's obstructionist stance is making it increasingly difficult for ACS to carry out its mandate to the airlines, and, in turn, the flying public.”
