May 2010 covers_Covers.qxd - World Airnews

46 WORLD AIRNEWS, MAY 2010.
ATNS SYSTEM WINS WORLD
AWARD
THE ADVANCED air traffic flow management
(ATFM) system deployed by
South Africa’s Air Traffic and Navigation
Services (ATNS) has been named by Jane’s Airport
Review as the winner of the 2010 Enabling
Technology Award for contribution to
enhanced capacity and safety.
The ATFM system, provided by Thales and
Metron Aviation, is deployed at ATNS’ central
airspace management unit and provides a system-wide
view for managing the entire region,
approximately 10% of the global airspace.
The solution utilises end-to-end collaborative
decision making to increase capacity utilisation
and enables airlines to optimise operations by
dynamically managing their allocated slots.
Over the last decade, tourism and travel in
South Africa has steadily increased by approximately
7% each year. With the increase in aircraft,
passengers and total air traffic movements,
South Africa felt it needed to more efficiently
manage airspace while enhancing safety. When
THE AFRICAN Airlines Association
(AFRAA), based in Nairobi, has expressed
deep concern about the
European Union’s latest list of airlines
banned from the European airspace due
to safety concern.
Thirteen of the 17 countries affected by
the ban are from Africa, with a total of 111
African airlines now named on the EU’s
so-called black list.
“Air safety is AFRAA’s number one priority
and we are the first to admit that
Africa needs to improve its air safety
record. However, while the EU list may be
well-intended, its main achievement has
been to undermine international confidence
in the African airline industry,” said
Nick Fadugba, Secretary General of
AFRAA.
In his response to the latest listing, he
claimed that the ultimate beneficiaries of
the ban were European airlines which
dominated the African skies to the disadvantage
of African carriers (see page 48).
“If any list is to be published, it should
be done so by the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO), the global regulator
of aviation safety, which has a known
South Africa was awarded the FIFA 2010 World
Cup, airspace optimisation and management
became an even larger challenge.
“This ATFM system helps us optimise capacity
and redefines the way we work with airlines,”
said Patrick Dlamini, CEO of ATNS. “The
central airspace management unit can now
predict the traffic flow well in advance which
will help us to put proactive measures to efficiently
and safely control traffic.”
The ATFM system gives ATNS advanced tools
for strategic planning, as well as pre-tactical and
tactical management of traffic flows within the
available capacity of the air traffic management
system. The system provides the comprehensive
ATFM capabilities to model and implement all
traffic flow initiatives for both aerodrome/airport
and airspace volumes in South Africa.
Traffic flow initiatives are used to dynamically
balance air traffic demand with capacity
to keep traffic flowing as smoothly and efficiently
as possible. Q
AFRAA OBJECTS TO EU’S LATEST LIST OF
BANNED AFRICAN AIRLINES‘
track record of impartiality,” he added.
According to AFRAA, the EU list has the
effect of damaging the reputation and
business of many scheduled African airlines
whose safety records and adherence
to ICAO safety standards are comparable
to the best airlines anywhere in the world.
The association contends that a detailed
examination of the EU list reveals
some contradictions. For example: The
majority of the African airlines on the list
have never operated scheduled flights to
Europe, do not plan to do so and have no
aircraft with the range to fly to any EU
state, and the list also includes many airlines
that only exist on paper and are not
operational.
The list indicates that neither the operating
licence nor the ICAO registration
number of most of the banned airlines are
known.
AFRAA has called on the EU to emulate
the example of the United States’ “Safe
Skies for Africa” initiative and launch an
air safety improvement programme for
Africa rather than issue a “blacklist” which
has not proved to be helpful in solving the
problem. Q