ATNS CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF KEEPING THE AFRICAN SKIES SAFE

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ATNS CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF KEEPING THE AFRICAN SKIES SAFE

Since its establishment in 1993, ATNS has consistently invested resources and time in deserving rural communities across the country. Many of the ATCs employed in the company are from these very same communities.

ATNS SOC Limited, an entity of the Department of Transport, was established in July 1993, ninety-one years after the invention of powered flight. In 2022, the company joined the rest of the aviation community, in celebrating 100 years of Air Traffic Control. ATC, as we have come to know it, has greatly evolved in so many ways. Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance technology have also changed. To improve ATNS’s air traffic navigation services, and contribute to the safety performance of the industry, the company has embedded principles of innovation in all its processes and procedures. It has also invested immensely in new technologies, to consistently evolve its business model and ensure it remains competitive.?

ATNS has improved its tracking capability with satellite technology to date. It is for this reason that ATNS will be hosting Aireon CEO, Don Thoma and his team in mid-July. This meeting is a culmination of hard work, resilience, and commitment to improving safety within the aviation industry. Aireon is providing the first, global air traffic surveillance system, using space-based ADS-B network, making it possible to extend the visibility of aircraft across the planet, in real time. The system has been operational in South Africa since 1 June 2023.

The Aireon team will also join ATNS and the rest of the world, to celebrate International Mandela Day (IMD) on 18 July 2023. On this day, ATNS will be hosting learners from one of the underprivileged schools in the North West province, who are beneficiaries of ATNS’s unique, innovative CSI projects. This is but one of the many CSI initiatives that the company has been involved in around the country, for many years. ATNS, prides itself in being at the forefront of investing in young South Africans - through its support of schools and educators in rural areas, thereby promoting proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, which is a requirement for a career in air traffic control and feeds into the company’s bursary programme.

Another IMD event, which is an ATNS CSI staff initiative, will take place at Mahlubi primary school in Matatiele, Eastern Cape province.?

From today, until Thursday,13 July 2023, ATNS, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE), hosts twenty-two learners from all nine provinces, at its globally renowned ATNS Aviation Training Academy (ATA), as part of its National Winter School programme, which focuses on STEM subjects’ revision sessions.?The institution is a major contributor to ensuring aviation safety in South Africa and parts of the African continent. In 2019, the ATA was recognised as an International Air Transport Association (IATA) Premier Circle Member for outstanding performance. Another ATNS/DBE Winter School session is underway at Makgetse High School in Hammanskraal, North West Province and will end on Friday, 14 July 2023.?

Twenty-two unemployed youths, who are former learners at ATNS-adopted schools in the Limpopo, North West, Kwa Zulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga Provinces, started an 8-week Remotely Piloted Aircraft System training on Monday, 10 July 2023. The programme is part of a joint venture between ATNS and Ntsu Aviation Solutions and takes place at the ATA.?????

Through ATNS’s social transformation strategy, the company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the DBE. This strategic alliance has yielded positive results that involve the effective handover and maintenance of projects in impoverished, rural schools countrywide.

On 21 July 2023, the Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga will attend ATNS's 30th anniversary celebrations at the ATA. Several key industry stakeholders are expected to be in attendance. ATNS recognises the importance of securing stakeholder support for its long-term success by enhancing transparency, sharing knowledge, and generating innovative solutions. Strong stakeholder relationships are essential to ATNS's success, thereby creating and preserving value in the short, medium, and long term.

On 26 July 2023, as part of the Mandela Month activities and ATNS’s 30th-anniversary celebrations, the company will be handing over a newly built and fully equipped computer and science laboratory to Matsambu high school, at Nkuri village, near Giyani, Limpopo province.?

As ATNS Celebrate 30 years of existence, the company wishes to acknowledge and recognise all those who contributed immensely to its mission and vision of ensuring that the African airspace is and remains safe.?????

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