The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) has formally flagged operational shortcomings at Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS).
In its analysis of the ATNS 2024/25 financial year, included in the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report tabled before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, AGSA said operational oversight had been compromised, with critical risks underestimated and insufficiently reported.
“The year under review will undoubtedly be remembered as significantly challenging for ATNS, marked by operational shortcomings. Particularly, the flight procedure designs, which led to the suspension of 326 flight procedures, causing widespread flight delays and cancellations and drawing strong concerns from their key stakeholders, including airlines, the media and the public.
“The (entity’s) airline customers consistently prioritise safety, punctuality and sustainability. These priorities, with the imperative of resilience, fundamentally guide the internal planning and operational delivery at ATNS. However, it is evident that oversight was compromised as key factors were underestimated and not adequately reported.”
An investigation commissioned by the Minister of Transport revealed significant challenges at ATNS, including dire staff shortages among flight procedure specialists and air traffic controllers, unreliable communication, navigation and surveillance systems and weaknesses in safety management systems.
ATNS tackles maintenance
The Committee raised concerns about ATNS not being able to meet the capital investment required to ensure that its equipment and infrastructure can be updated and maintained to the level required for continued effective operations.
Responding to the findings, ATNS Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Mphilo Dlamini, said ATNS was committed to unlocking the replacement and upgrade of all prioritised and aged communication, navigation and surveillance infrastructure during the 2025/2026 period.
“ATNS has managed to attract and subsequently contract appropriate service providers for the replacement of key communication, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management systems. Although none of these systems are replaced overnight, the project has commenced and is in various stages of implementation.”
He explained that the key interventions related to components of the air traffic management system, the air traffic flow management system, and the aeronautical information system.
“Whilst the replacement initiatives are under way, ATNS will also continuously review the support of the aged systems to ensure that they remain operational till the new systems are in place. These interventions include additional specialised training to specialist staff, additional in-country spares holding or replacements and ad-hoc support assistance from external vendors.”
The committee also urged ATNS to improve on its communication strategy following negative sentiments linked to flight cancellations at airports when inclement weather affected the ability of flights to land on particular runways or due to navigation systems at these airports not being secure enough to ensure safe landings in inclement weather.
“ATNS has heightened its effective communication strategy and plans. We are proactively communicating to our stakeholders, passengers and the public and all our efforts are yielding positive results. We have set up various communications platforms where we disseminate information timeously,” said Dlamini.
Wasteful expenditure
AGSA also recorded fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R592 000 during the 2024/25 financial year, with a closing balance of R3 million. ATNS did not incur any irregular expenditure, and R8,3 million in historical irregular expenditure was condoned and removed.
Dlamini said internal controls around fruitless and wasteful expenditure had been strengthened and recovery processes were under way.
