South African airports heading for disaster

South Africa’s shortage of air-traffic controllers is “almost compromising service delivery” by the state-owned company that manages the nation’s airspace. 

Air Traffic and Navigation Services “continues to struggle to fill key positions, particularly ATCs,” Chairman Zola Majavu said in its annual report for fiscal 2025.

Locally trained controllers are sought after internationally, and “the outflow of experienced personnel has outpaced the capacity of our training pipeline,” he said. 

ATNS — which manages 6.1% of the world’s airspace — said that international providers offer remuneration and other incentives that it isn’t able to match.

The firm said 86 employees left the company in the year that ended March, with 50 of these being from the air-traffic services division. 

“This signals a department-specific crisis beyond typical organizational turnover patterns,” it said. “It is both a challenge and a strategic priority requiring immediate attention and sustained intervention.”

The company has launched an accelerated recruitment drive for vital roles including air-traffic service personnel, flight procedure designers and engineers. 

“This also involves encouraging previous ATNS employees to return to South Africa to bridge the current expertise gap within an 18-month to three-year time frame,” Majavu said.