The Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company of South Africa was recently named the International Air Transport Association's (IATA's) top regional training partner worldwide for the second year running.

The award recognises the results of and contribution by the training academy to developing human capital of the air transport industry.

"To qualify for the award, a training organisation needs to have conducted more than 30 IATA accredited courses and trained more than 500 students in a year," Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) said in a statement following the hand over of the award in Montreal, Canada at the end of November.

As part of its strategic initiatives, ATNS aims to bring South Africa's aerospace industry in line with global supply chain requirements by creating skilled and sustainable jobs.

"It is indeed a great honour for us as ATNS because our quest and effort to ensuring that Africa prescribes to the best practices in the provision of aviation training is being recognised - especially the critical aspect of safety in training - as well as making sure there is continuous training to all airspace users," said acting chief executive officer of ATNS, Thabani Mthiyane.

Since April 2000, the ATNS training academy has trained over 9 000 local and international delegates.

"We appreciate and thank ATNS for their commitment to this result-oriented partnership," said IATA's senior vice president, Mark Hubble.

"Continue in the same way - to train young human capital in South Africa and [on] the rest of the continent."

ATNS said its vision is to use its training programmes to be a contributing partner to ensuring aviation safety in Africa. "Training continues to be one of the most important aspects of this company's work," it said.

ATNS currently has 15 regional training facilities worldwide.

As part of its training initiatives, the organisation unveiled a new 3D simulator developed in association with Airways New Zealand in October 2011.

"With this new device ATNS is able to recreate any airport terrain in the world and simulate virtually any flight conditions or operational difficulties to prepare candidates for the real thing," ATNS said.

"South Africa is a regional leader in aviation safety and ATNS's role in developing the human capital of the aviation industry in Africa by upgrading the skills of aviation professionals will strengthen African aviation as a whole."
 

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