Following the confusion caused by a July 23 release from ACSA claiming that the George and Kimberley Airports are back to normal operations, ATNS has contradicted ACSA’s statement.
ATNS says that the NOTAM it issued still applies at those two airports, along with three other domestic airports. All five are under suspension for instrument navigation flight approaches. So, in bad weather conditions flights may be delayed or redirected to alternate airports, as reported by Travel News.
ATNS on Friday July 19 issued a NOTAM advising that instrument approach procedures to George, Kimberley, Mthatha, Polokwane and Richards Bay airports, are suspended due to maintenance.
Meanwhile, ATNS spokesperson, Percy Morokane, assured Travel News that ATNS had not received any reports of suspended or cancelled flights since the suspension of the flight procedures was made known via the NOTAM.
"The suspension of instrument flight procedures is currently temporary, and efforts are underway to complete the maintenance of the suspended procedures as quickly as possible," said Morokane.
ATNS explained that only flights which depend on instrument approaches may be affected by the suspension and may experience delays or diversions, in the event of adverse weather conditions and poor visibility.
Although there is no definite timeline available due to the complexity of the maintenance activities, ATNS will provide periodic updates on the progress made.
"Timely weather updates are being provided to airlines to facilitate alternate decisions," said Morokane.
