5 days ago
Crucial Air Traffic and Navigation Services faces payroll and skills crisis
Payroll issues, staff discontent and a potential exodus of skilled air traffic controllers are colliding at the state-owned Air Traffic and Navigation Services, raising fears of operational instability in South Africa's skies.
The state-owned Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), responsible for controlling every aircraft in South Africa's skies, is facing a convergence of crises.
Already under regulatory scrutiny over grounded flights, leadership instability and concerns about passenger safety, ATNS is now grappling with payroll chaos that has left air traffic controllers and other critical personnel short-paid, overpaid or unable to access payslips.
A whistleblower told Daily Maverick that these issues, far from being isolated glitches, form part of a broader pattern of operational lapses, internal inequities and governance failures that threaten safety and service continuity.
'This is the second payroll issue in less than a year and the third incident this year regarding unpaid overtime claims and training allowances,' an ATNS employee told Daily Maverick, underscoring that the distraction of missing pay is not merely an HR hiccup but a potential hazard in a safety-critical environment.
Stalled on the runway
In July, many ATNS employees logged into their bank accounts to discover their salaries had been underpaid by thousands of rands. Others were overpaid, while some could not even access their payslips.
For a workforce where operational vigilance is paramount, the impact of such disruptions isn't merely a speed bump but a safety risk.
Linden Birns, aviation expert and publisher of the industry newsletter Plane Talking, underscored the risk to Daily Maverick: 'You don't want people who have got such a responsible job to be distracted by something like that.'
The psychological burden is not academic — air traffic controllers and ATNS staff manage split-second decisions involving hundreds of lives, and the erosion of their financial security risks undermining the very focus that makes aviation safe.
At the centre of the payroll dispute is the payroll software in use by ATNS. According to Solidarity's sector co-ordinator for aviation, Barend Smit, who confirmed the salary issues, the system's shortcomings have been long evident.
Smit told Daily Maverick the system was 'unreliable, outdated… Many clients have become frustrated with [its shortcomings] and moved on.'
He said that in correspondence with ATNS, the union had cited contraventions of sections 32(3) and 33 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Solidarity has formally demanded the termination of ATNS's agreement with Oracle in favour of a more reliable system. In its written response to Daily Maverick, the ATNS disputed any systemic failure, stating: 'A temporary technical glitch occurred and corrective processes were implemented.'
Pay disparity and policy challenges
Beyond the immediate payroll dispute, internal wage and policy disparities are fuelling further resentment. In the 2025 salary adjustment round, air traffic controllers allegedly received a 9.3% increase, technicians 6.3% and administrative staff 5.3%. Air traffic controllers also benefited from retention packages in the 2024/25 financial year, while other categories did not.
Employees allege this has compounded morale problems, especially when coupled with differing remote work arrangements.
'Support staff are forced to work in the office full-day Monday to Friday, while the rest of the head office and some admin staff work remotely,' the whistleblower told Daily Maverick.
For Smit, these disparities have operational implications.
'If a controller or technician isn't paid on time, you create a chain reaction — they may not be able to cover transport costs, they arrive stressed, and that stress carries into the control room. In this job, distraction can be dangerous.'
In response to questions from Daily Maverick, ATNS clarified that employee remuneration structures and service level agreements with third parties — such as their payroll contractor — were not disclosed to external parties.
Leadership in turbulence
The payroll instability comes against a backdrop of leadership challenges and infrastructure lapses. Earlier this year, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy suspended ATNS CEO Nozipho Mdawe over the organisation's failure to maintain instrument flight procedures at key airports — procedures that dictate the circumstances under which flights can operate.
Birns recalled one striking example at Kimberley airport just last week: 'No flights could go in or out … because there are no currently valid instrument flight procedures for Kimberley, either arrival or departure.'
This followed an earlier systems failure at Johannesburg, where the primary air traffic control system was corrupted and the backup had not been maintained, creating operational gaps in one of the busiest airspaces in the country.
The looming exodus
ATNS is also contending with a looming skills crisis. Globally, trained air traffic controllers are in short supply, and South Africa has seen its share of departures.
'There's been quite an exodus of people going over to other parts of the world … there's a global shortage of controllers,' said Birns.
The opening of new international airports in other countries will intensify this competition, given the global skills shortage, and Smit warned that the impact could be direct, highlighting that a new airport will soon open in the Middle East.
'That will need at least about 150 traffic controllers,' said Smit. 'I think there's only one place that those airports are going to look for them, and that's in South Africa.'
The combined effect of payroll instability, wage disparities and morale issues risks accelerating staff departures at precisely the moment when replacements are hardest to find.
Why ATNS matters
The stakes extend beyond ATNS's internal performance. Birns emphasised that the aviation sector had 'massive catalytic power in terms of cascading job creation' and that the government's failure to grasp the interdependence of air transport and economic growth was costly.
'Infrastructure failures hold the growth of the economy to ransom,' he said.
An ATNS that is distracted, understaffed or hobbled by systemic faults risks constraining trade, tourism and investment far beyond the runway.
The Department of Transport did not respond to direct questions from Daily Maverick, but referred all queries to ATNS, which stated that it 'fosters a culture of open, honest and fair two-way communication with employees' and applies 'internal policies based on operational requirements, safety imperatives, and service continuity'.
It said hybrid work arrangements are supported 'where feasible' and that operational requirements dictated site presence for some staff categories.
It did not respond to direct questions about salary disputes.
In response to the mounting challenges at ATNS, Creecy mandated a comprehensive turnaround strategy, and on 30 January she approved recommendations from her Committee of Aviation Experts — established in December 2024 — to immediately enhance staffing, critical systems and governance within the organisation.
The plan focuses on accelerating the recruitment of air traffic controllers and technical personnel over a period of up to three years, while also upgrading communication, navigation and surveillance infrastructure, including air traffic flow management; restoring and maintaining vital instrument flight procedures; and streamlining governance by instituting single-point accountability for implementation.
In an update in March, Creecy outlined measures to stabilise and rebuild ATNS since December 2024, including fast-tracking the recruitment of air traffic controllers, upgrading critical navigation and surveillance systems, reinstating suspended flight procedures and strengthening safety oversight.
She said these interventions were 'beginning to show progress', while noting that ATNS's CEO remained on precautionary suspension pending an independent investigation. DM
