Airlink, the Southern African airline, has reported severe disruptions to its scheduled air services to and from Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, Pietermaritzburg Airport, Richards Bay Airport and Mthatha Airport.
According to Airlink, the disruptions are a result of the failure of South Africa’s Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) to maintain the validity of those airports’ instrument flight procedures (IFPs).
IFPs are published charts with annotated instructions illustrating and describing the stipulated speeds, direction and altitudes aircraft should follow when taking off or approaching to land at an airport. In commercial aircraft operations, pilots are legally obligated to follow IFPs.
“Airlink is doing everything possible to get customers to their intended destinations as quickly as possible with the minimum inconvenience. Under normal circumstances our flights to and from these destinations would be permitted to operate in the present summer weather. However, the suspension of the IFPs places severe limitations on flights,” said Airlink’s CEO , De Villiers Engelbrecht.
The recent delays followed ATNS indefinitely suspending 226 IFPs across South Africa in July 2024, after it missed a deadline to complete paperwork to renew their validity. Two hundred of these still remain withdrawn with the suspension of additional IFPs on the weekend of 11-12 October primarily affecting Kruger Mpumalanga Airport.
So far, over 3000 passengers have been affected by the delay and cancellations of flights following the IFP suspensions.
