8 minute read
MS POPPY KHOZA Director of Civil Aviation
MS POPPY KHOZA Director of Civil Aviation
1 TO ADD SOME EXTRA CONTEXT TO THE ARTICLE, COULD YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR CAREER TO DATE AS WELL AS SOME OF YOUR HIGHLIGHTS/AMBITIONS AS THE CEO OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN AVIATION INDUSTRY REGULATOR?
I have extensive experience in civil aviation, having worked in the aviation sector for the past 20 years. I am currently serving a second term as the Director of Civil Aviation, having started in 2012.
I have served in various aviation structures, largely in strategic senior management positions, and I served as Chair of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Aviation Security Panel, making history by having been appointed as the first African female in this position.
My biggest passion is to facilitate change – or specifically accomplish meaningful change – and to be able to provide good leadership in this dynamic aviation sector of ours.
One of the key areas that I am passionate about is bringing transformation to an industry that is largely white male dominated. At this very moment, the SACAA is one of the leading public entities from both a performance and governance perspective. The SACAA is also a well transformed organisation, boasting 50% capable women Executives, a milestone achievement consistent with the target set by ICAO for leadership and professional positions in aviation. The organisation also provides opportunities and fosters skills development to those who were previously disadvantaged.
The SACAA offers bursaries and is highly proactive in creating awareness through outreach programmes to previously disadvantaged communities.
2 FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE SOUTH AFRICAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (SACAA), WHAT DOES THE ORGANISATION DO?
The SACAA, through the Civil Aviation Act, 2009 (Act No. 13 of 2009), is an agency of the Department of Transport, mandated to regulate aviation safety and security as well as the footprint of aviation activities on the environment.
This Act provides for the establishment of a stand-alone authority mandated with controlling, promoting, regulating, supporting, developing, enforcing, and continuously improving levels of safety and security throughout the civil aviation industry. The SACAA conducts oversight over all civil aviation personnel such as pilots, cabin crew and aircraft maintenance engineers as well as operators such as airlines, aircraft maintenance organisations, aviation training schools, airports, aircraft owners, etc.
3 ON 19 AUGUST 2022 THE SACAA WILL HOST A NATIONAL AVIATION GENDER SUMMIT; THE THIRD NATIONAL GENDER SUMMIT. WHAT DO YOU AIM TO ACHIEVE WITH THE SUMMIT AND WHAT DOES THIS EVENT MEAN FOR SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN IN AVIATION?
I am very pleased that the SACAA has had the opportunity to be part of the very first aviation gender summit, when we hosted the inaugural Global Aviation Gender Summit together with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in August 2018. Together with women aviators from around the world, we explored our mutual concerns around gender equality in the historically male-dominated world of aviation. We crystallized many of the causes for the low representation of women in aviation, such as the unconscious bias, the low profile of women in the industry, the barriers and enablers, the need to draw young girls into the right study choices at an early age, and so on. Since that initial, very successful gathering in 2018, as a country we have followed up on our findings by means of creating a platform for further engagements such as the hosting of national aviation gender summits, and the summit this year will be our third such summit. By following up on these issues, we make sure that this initiative does not fade away but continues to grow and result in concrete changes for women in aviation. A significant moment was when the Minister of Transport, the honourable Mr Fikile Mbalula, and the Captains of Industry, signed a pledge during the 2019 summit, committing themselves to the cause of gender equality in aviation.
This year’s summit will provide an opportunity to build on what we have achieved so far, as well as including in-depth topics that will involve meaningful discussions with women in the industry as we explore relevant ways to move forward. Although the global pandemic has affected the cause of women representation in aviation negatively, as the pandemic has done to women employment in general, we are determined as a collective not to allow this to hold us back.
4 HOW HAVE SACAA’S OWN OPERATIONS BEEN THROUGHOUT THIS COVID-19 PERIOD. HOW DOES THIS IMPACT THE REGULATION OF THE AVIATION SECTOR?
Generally, the SACAA has handled the impact of the pandemic diligently and continued to maintain the usual excellent performance and delivery of its mandate, as illustrated by the entity achieving 100% against the approved Annual Performance Plan (APP) targets, the seventh (7th) such achievement in the past nine years.
In the last financial year, the SACAA also achieved 100% compliance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and another clean audit from the Auditor-General, with no material findings in the last financial year.
With that said, we have learnt many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, and I believe we have handled it very well as a country and as an aviation industry. Some of the unavoidable events included some States prolonging the closure of their borders.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the civil aviation industry to a standstill, as various countries closed their entry ports and borders. This affected both the generation of revenue as well as aviation safety. Lots of airlines were closed and those that remained in operation had to scale down. This disruption affected both aviation operations and personnel.
Probably one of the areas that we need to fully embrace – and this is also one of the lessons learnt over the past three years - is the need to embrace technological advancement. The SACAA will continue to be at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in terms of automation and innovation in the industry, and the Regulator will use the opportunities that have come to the fore during this era to assist with the training and equipping of the pipeline of future aviation experts.
5 HOW DO YOU BELIEVE SOUTH AFRICA COMPARES TO INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS WHEN IT COMES TO AVIATION?
South Africa is one of the member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialised United Nations agency that consists of 193 member states. This United Nations body is responsible for ensuring that countries apply comparable civil aviation standards.
As a member state, South Africa must comply with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) provided by ICAO on safety, security and the environment. ICAO conducted its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme Continuous Monitoring Approach audit on South Africa in May 2017.
The results revealed that South Africa’s effective implementation rating had increased from 83.83% in 2013 to the current 87.39%. This rating is significantly higher than the world average of 68.68%. The country has an opportunity to increase this rating, as ICAO has scheduled South Africa for the next audit in the first semester of 2023.
From a security perspective, South Africa was last audited by ICAO on security in 2011 and in that audit South Africa achieved 81.3%. The country is preparing for another ICAO audit that is due to start in the middle of August 2022. We are hoping to increase South Africa’s rating in this audit.
South Africa participates in many other peer assessments, such as the USA Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration, as well as the EU aviation bodies on cargo. The country has performed very well in such assessments, proving that South Africa is on par with the developed countries when it comes to safety and security.
6 WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR AVIATION SAFETY IN SOUTH AFRICA?
The number of aircraft accidents can be used as one of the basic barometers that can indicate the presence or otherwise of the effective administration of civil aviation safety and security oversight in a country.
South Africa has had a zero fatal accident record in relation to airlines and other scheduled commercial operations for over thirty years, exemplifying the high standards of aviation safety and security in this sector. However, the SACAA is concerned about the number of accidents in the general aviation sector. To address this challenge, the SACAA has developed and is implementing a five-year strategy, together with the industry to reduce the number of accidents in this sector. The general aviation sector comprises the small aircraft operators, normally operating 19 seaters or less. Just in the previous financial year, the country experienced a drop in the number of fatal accidents by 25% and the number of fatalities also dropped by 26% even though the number of accidents increased in the same period. The aim is to lower the number of people perishing as a result of aviation activities to zero and to reduce the number of accidents by 50% by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
