Cape Town – The CEO of the Airline Association of Southern Africa (AASA), Aaron Munetsi, has warned that the continued suspension of instrument flight procedures at several airports poses serious operational and economic challenges for the aviation sector.
According to EngineeringNews, ASSA has raised concerns about operational inefficiencies and safety failures in SA, citing the suspension of more than 200 instrument flight procedures by the country’s Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) at airports across the country.
Munetsi called out SA and said that the continued suspensions and disrupted airline operations and wasting costing millions of dollars, due to extra fuel burn, increased wear on engines and concomitant increased maintenance, additional crew flight duty and flight operations support, including providing customer compensation and the suffering of reputational damage.
📢 #55thAASAagaNews Airlines warn of ‘economic disaster’ as flight procedures remain suspended across SA. Airline body says grounding of instrument flight procedures is crippling operations and costing carriers millions. ➡️ https://t.co/q3zcAWKlj4
— Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) (@AirlinesAssocof) October 20, 2025
“The failure to design, manage and maintain airspace cannot be dismissed as an ‘inconvenience’,” he stressed.
“It needs to be seen for what it is; an economic disaster which demands a commensurate emergency disaster response. The lack of urgency is reflected in the glacial pace at which approval renewals are being processed,” said Munetsi.
In an interview with eNCA, Munetsi explained that the suspension of flights has disrupted essential paperwork, as airports are required to have instrument flight procedures — a process that assesses potential obstacles around the airport that could affect aircraft landings.
The Airline Association of Southern Africa is worried about persistent flight delays because of old air traffic control methods. CEO Aaron Munetsi says over 200 instrument flight procedures by the country’s Air Traffic and Navigation Services have been suspended. #DStv403… pic.twitter.com/GocwHmeXrU
— eNCA (@eNCA) October 21, 2025
“That process results in paperwork that actually delineates that these are the obstacles that we have observed, and these are the processes that the pilots need to take for them to avoid these particular obstacles.
“And that paperwork is submitted to their regional authority who then verifies that the obstacles have been correctly identified and the processes have been correctly put in place, so that the operation is 100 percent safe and secure.
Munetsi added that when the instrument flight procedure is suspended, pilots are forced to rely on what is known as a “visual approach,” making it difficult to identify obstacles.
This, he said, results in flights being diverted or cancelled to avoid putting the lives of both pilots and passengers at risk.
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Compiled by Anda Tolibadi
