By The aviation sector in South Africa is one of the best in the globe raking number one in Africa, with zero fatalities in almost four decades, a record that opens doors for individual operators competing in Europe, and other parts of the world in the sector.
The elated Minister for Transport Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga told the media on Tuesday, 5 March 2024, that the South African civil aviation sector participated in a number of security and safety audits conducted by various international bodies including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
After much assessment over a period of three years, ICAO rated South Africa’s safety oversight system at 91.11% placing it at the summit of aviation in Africa at number one, and ranking number 18 in the globe.
She said ICAO also did not raise any significant safety and security concerns in both the safety and security audits which happened within eight months of each other.
“The US-Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognised South Africa’s safety oversight system as meeting ICAO’s safety standards and recommended practices and therefore confirmed that South Africa retains its Category 1 status with the standards of the United States International Oversight Safety Audit (IOSA) Programme,” said Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga.
To add weight to the audit outcome, South Africa has recorded a 0% fatal accidents rate in the commercial airline sector in nearly 40 years. Chikunga said her department aims to maintain the record as is for the coming decades and reduce the current accidents by 50% in the general aviation sector.
“At the end of the previous 2022/23 financial year, the number of accidents had decreased from 147 to 113 accidents which translated into a 23 % decrease from the 2021/22 period. The fatal accidents decreased from 12 to 9 fatal accidents, translating into a 25% decrease with the number of fatalities decreasing by 29,4%,” said Chikunga.
The report is good news for South African airline operators as it affirms international markets that the sector is viable and safe to use; operators from South Africa can be trusted and preferably the choice of preference to travel.
“What is more important for our industry is that the benefits of these recognitions extend to the commercial operations of our industry who operate in Europe and America. These operators can operate unhindered and without the need to undergo further assessments as individual operators,” said the Minister.
