South Africa’s shortage of air-traffic controllers is “almost compromising service delivery” by the state-owned company that manages the nation’s airspace.
In its 2025 annual report, the state-owned Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) said that the exodus of skilled personnel from its ranks is exacerbated by international peers poaching its staff.
ATNS, which has the sole responsibility of ensuring air safety in South Africa, has launched a project to attract back lost skills in a process that may involve reviewing its pay.
“International providers offer remuneration and other incentives that ATNS cannot match. ATNS launched an accelerated recruitment drive for vital roles, including air traffic service personnel, flight procedure designers, and engineers,” it says.
“This also involves encouraging previous ATNS employees to return to SA to bridge the current expertise gap within an 18-month to three-year timeframe.
“Aggressive global poaching, particularly from major airports following events such as the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022, further compounded the issue,” it added.
“As controllers are licensed for specific stations, rapid replacement is difficult. Moreover, retention is complicated by challenges extending beyond financial incentives.”
Aviation analyst Guy Leitch has raised serious concerns about the ongoing exodus of skilled professionals from South Africa’s aviation sector, warning that the trend is putting service delivery, safety, and the country’s global reputation at risk.
Leitch explained that South Africa is losing a significant portion of its aviation talent to international markets, particularly to the Middle East.
“Not only is South Africa losing significant talent from the aviation industry to international markets, more specifically, if you take a look at the Middle East, but we also find ourselves competing for international talent by not having them be paid adequately,” he said.
This shortage affects not only cabin crew and pilots but also critical air traffic controllers and back-office staff at organisations such as ATNS, who manage the approval of instrument flight procedures.
“The solution is that we’ve got to be training up our own people faster than we’re losing them, and that’s just not happening at this stage,” Leitch stressed.
The knock-on effects are huge
Leitch highlighted that South Africa’s advantage as an English-speaking country, coupled with the global shortage of air traffic controllers, makes local skills highly sought after worldwide.
“South African skills are in demand right across the world,” he said. Yet the country often pays less than international standards, relying on the allure of lifestyle and quality of life to retain talent.
“As a pilot once said to me, it’s very tempting to go and fly in the Far East for a Chinese airline for typically three times as much as we get paid here. But hey, who am I gonna drink beer with around the braai on Friday nights?”
This lifestyle factor enables companies to pay up to 33% less than global rates, but Leitch warned that if the pay gap narrows, the exodus will accelerate, and the industry risks a crisis.
The problem, Leitch noted, is not only financial. “It’s not so much the investment, it’s the approach to aviation,” he explained.
For many, especially from previously disadvantaged communities, aviation careers remain cloaked in mystique, with misconceptions about the skills required.
“People just think, oh, I could never fly an aeroplane or become an air traffic controller because you’ve got to be so clever and you’ve got to have maths and science as a basic qual,” he said.
Leitch believes the industry must demystify careers, showing the breadth of opportunities beyond piloting, including engineering, air traffic management, and other civil aviation roles.
Leadership and workplace culture also play a pivotal role in retaining talent. Leitch cited ATNS as an example, noting that the CEO has been suspended for months without a replacement, which has contributed to a toxic environment.
ATNS has spent millions on retention, relocation, recruitment, and housing allowances.
However, Leitch argued that improving workplace culture is a cheaper and more effective solution. The impact of these talent shortages is already being felt across the aviation system.
He pointed to the suspension of 226 instrument flight procedures, which have severely disrupted airline operations in areas including Mpolokwane, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, Umtata, Richards Bay, and even Cape Town.
“If the instrument flight procedures are suspended, the airlines won’t be able to land in Cape Town in bad weather,” he explained.
“The knock-on effects are not just the hundreds of millions of rands which the airlines are moaning about, but the consequences to the overall economy and tourism are absolutely calculable.”
“For every $1 spent on an airline ticket, it creates another $30 of broader value in the economy. So we’re losing massive amounts of money because of these suspended flight procedures, and that’s multiplied by 30 in terms of its impact on tourism, connectivity, and investment.”
