South African state-owned air traffic and navigation services and Atech, a subsidiary of Embraer, have signed a two-year contract to replace ATNS' existing air traffic flow management system. The new system will be deployed in the third quarter of 2027, bringing comprehensive upgrades to South African air transportation.

South Africa is one of the major air transportation hubs on the African continent, handling approximately 283000 flights annually, connecting over 20 domestic destinations and 35 international destinations. The new system will be deployed at the main air traffic control center of Johannesburg Oliver Tambo International Airport, equipped with a disaster and recovery center to ensure operational continuity, as well as training and simulation environments for employee training and system testing.

The new ATFM system has significant advantages. It can actively balance the number of scheduled flights with the available capacity of airports and flight segments, accurately respond to factors such as weather, construction, or operational restrictions, and adjust flight schedules in coordination with airlines and airports to reduce delays and improve operational predictability and safety. Atech CEO Rodrigo Percico stated that the contract strengthens the company's international expansion strategy, and the new system will bring tangible benefits to passengers, airlines, and airports, enhancing the competitiveness of South Africa's civil aviation system.

The new system follows the guidelines of document 9971 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, integrates demand capacity balance and collaborative decision-making tools, and can be used for both pre tactical and tactical phases. The airport takeoff and landing time management function allows airlines to negotiate flight schedules in advance, submit flight intentions, and promote strategic airspace planning. At the same time, the system is equipped with a real-time dashboard for operation monitoring and post analysis evaluation of key performance indicators. It can also coordinate cross-border ATFM measures with adjacent flight information areas to achieve integration with ATFM multi node networks. Keywords: International Engineering News, Foreign Engineering Project Information

In addition, the contract includes an initial and integrated flight planning system, which can reduce flight planning processing time and manual work. The new system also has an airspace management and coordination system, which can handle flexible use of airspace issues at the strategic, tactical, and tactical levels; And the unmanned aerial vehicle and system traffic management flow management system are responsible for managing and coordinating the UTM airspace of ATNS. This series of features will help South African air transportation move towards a new stage of greater efficiency, safety, and intelligence.Editor/Cheng Liting