Rising concerns over air safety in most of Africa have spurred several major European carriers to support a South Africa Airways' initiative that could see some countries boycotted if they do nothing to improve the parlous state of their air traffic control systems.
In May SAA put forward a proposal to European airlines to band together to pressure African countries with sub-standard ATC facilities to either spend their millions of dollars in overflight fees on upgrading staff and equipment or lose out as airlines blacklist countries and fly around them.
At presstime British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Olympic Airways, Alitalia and UK charter operator Caledonian Airways had backed the initiative. Others were expected to follow.
A meeting of more than 10 carriers was due to be held in June to identify those countries most lacking in infrastructure and subsequently nominate an airline or airlines to 'adopt' them and bring pressure to bear. African governments will be persuaded to forego overflight fees from the carriers involved - SAA pays out R3.5 million (US$783,000) a month - which will then go back into upgrading radar, VHF communications and ATC skills under the supervision of the nominated airlines.
Once the countries had achieved an acceptable level of proficiency they would regain the right to earn overflight fees. SAA's head of flight safety, Graham Rochat, says the potential for a mid-air collision over Africa would be cut by 50 per cent by the year 2000 if the plan was implemented by year end. 'Airlines are compelled to avoid unsafe airspace and any country identified as sub-standard, and which refuses to accept assistance in upgrading its infrastructure, would have to be avoided. We don't want to hold a gun to anyone's head but the safety of passengers and aircraft is non-negotiable and if we don't get cooperation we will fly around those countries,' warns Rochat. He says the carriers would prefer to see deficient countries join airlines in a 'win-win' arrangement, 'however if we meet with resistance we will use our collective muscle to ensure safer skies.'
According to the Airline Pilots' Association of South Africa, there were 77 near-misses over Africa between January and December last year. This figure is based on reports by only a few operators, so the actual number of incidents is significantly higher.
Alpa-SA's general manager, Cathy Bill, says the countries with the most near-misses were Chad, Angola, Nigeria, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Mozambique and the Congo. 'Most of these incidents occurred in the western portion of Africa which coincides with the routing most frequently followed between SA and Europe,' explains Bill.
The airlines may be encouraged by the words of Nigeria's head of state, General Sani Abacha. Appealing to delegates at the Icao regional air navigation planning conference in Abuja in May, he asked them to 'cooperate for the improvement of the safety of civil aviation in Africa'.
Source: Airline Business
