South Africa Marks Regional Milestone | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Sun, Dec 13, 2015

South Africa Marks Regional Milestone

Will Deploy Space-Based ADS-B In 2018

A contract to provide space-based air traffic control services has been signed between Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) ... the air traffic and navigation service provider in South Africa ... and Aireon LLC. Through the agreement, ATNS will have 100 percent air traffic surveillance of the Johannesburg Flight Information Region (FIR) and the Cape Town FIR, which cover approximately 10 percent of the world's airspace, through Aireon's satellite-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) service, scheduled to be operational in 2018.

Today, over 70 percent of the world's airspace is outside of any real-time air traffic surveillance, limiting it to mainly terrestrial and densely populated areas. This leaves the vast majority of remote, oceanic and mountainous regions without any real-time aircraft monitoring.  ATNS has decided to implement space-based ADS-B to enable real-time visibility throughout their airspace. Increased visibility, coupled with real-time air traffic surveillance, improves both the safety and efficiency of air travel and gives air traffic control the ability to optimize airspace with more accurate, predictable data.

"Aireon is providing the global air transport industry with a vital piece of technology that will greatly enhance air traffic management," said Thabani Mthiyane, chief executive officer, ATNS. "Much of Africa is currently without any air traffic surveillance. Aireon's service will give us visibility into many regions, allowing us to facilitate seamless transitions between air traffic control providers. This will be achieved without any additional ground infrastructure and utilizing currently-mandated on-board avionics."

"Once Aireon's service is operational in 2018, our increased area of surveillance will allow us to work with our African neighbors to improve safety and air traffic efficiency across this region of the world," said Mthiyane.

"ATNS demonstrates exceptional regional and global leadership in air traffic control. Their foresight to invest in a long-term solution to solve the issues of global air traffic surveillance will be welcomed across the African continent. We welcome ATNS as a launch customer and look forward to collaborating on the deployment of space-based ADS-B in the African region," said Don Thoma, chief executive officer, Aireon.

ATNS signs their data services agreement on the heels of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) adopting a resolution for primary spectrum allocation of the 1090 MHz frequency band for use by satellite-based ADS-B. ATNS also joins additional Aireon launch customers, NAV CANADA, Italy's ENAV, Ireland's IAA, Denmark's NAVIAIR, UK NATS and Curacao's DC-ANSP.

(Source: Aireon news release)

FMI: www.atns.co.za, www.aireon.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC