Mass Skills Exodus hits SA Air Traffic Control

South Africa's air space is under strain as a mass exodus of air traffic controllers has led to a shortage, limiting air space and causing increased flight delays and extra fuel costs.

Industry sources say since December at least 50 people have left Air Traffic Navigation Systems (ATNS), including chief executive officer Wrenelle Stander.

The shortage means that while ATNS has the capacity to handle 70 planes per hour, it only handles between 50 and 55.

Comair director of flight operations Martin Louw has warned that if the situation continued to deteriorate, it could become a safety risk.

A source at ATNS said there was a crisis but the company was denying it.

"There are not enough people to control the air and it affects the schedule. It is creating a 10 to 20-minute delay with most flights. Although it may not seem significant to the average person, in the air traffic world this has a great impact."

He explained: "Each air traffic controller controls a sector but because there are too few people, some of sectors have to close. Some sectors close and other combine."

At OR Tambo Airport, there are 11 sectors operating to accept planes but up to seven of those sectors are closed in one day.

"If a sector closes, it immediately translates into a 30-minute delay because there are fewer lines open and you need to give other planes more space. It affects the number of planes that can be handled."

He said 21 air traffic controllers were needed on a shift, yet there were only 16.

SAA and the Airports Company SA would not comment.

Acsa spokesperson Solomon Makgale said they were not aware of any flight delays at airports caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Comair, however, has said the shortages were affecting the airline in several ways.

Comair spokewoman Glenda Zvenyika said: "The lack of an adequate number of air traffic controllers means that there is no longer seamless control in the air. They put us on hold and they delay us. It means we are burning more fuel than we should and, with fuel prices skyrocketing as they are at the moment, it adds to our costs.

"Although they delay flights to cope better with the number of flights, the ATNS staff can become stressed because of the increased workload.

"It is not a safe situation to have air traffic controllers stressed. The air traffic controllers are in control when we are in the sky and they can't afford to make mistakes," she said.

African Pilot editor Athol Franz said SA air traffic controllers were highly sought after and several had gone to the Middle East.