Major flight delays experienced at OR Tambo

PASSENGERS at South Africa’s major airports were left frustrated on Wednesday with flights being delayed by up to two hours.

OR Tambo International Airport denied the delays were the result of a strike by air traffic controllers at the airport.

Also read:

• ACSA investigates cause of billboard that fell at OR Tambo

• Stowaway survives flight from OR Tambo to London

• Aviation authority confirms near-miss at OR Tambo

In a statement posted on its Facebook page it was stated that ATNS experienced a technical malfunction which interrupted the communication between the air traffic controllers at the Johannesburg air traffic control Centre, based at the OR Tambo International Airport, and the air crew on the flights operating at the airport and the airspace in the vicinity. This was already picked up on Monday evening.

This situation was recovered within 25 minutes and all operations returned to normal. However, during a review of the communications failure on Wednesday it became evident that further risk mitigations required to be implemented.

In order to maintain the normal high safety standards expected in the aviation industry and from ATNS, air traffic rates to and from the airport and in the airspace have been limited temporarily while technical risks are mitigated. The unfortunate result of this necessary safety intervention is the delays currently being experienced by the airspace users, the statement read.

“ATNS is currently busy with all the required activities to normalise the situation and restore the capacity for the airport and airspace. ATNS is not aware of any industrial action.

“The regulation and control of air traffic is classified as an essential and as a result the service delivery of ATNS continues”.