South African authorities have pulled out all the stops to facilitate online learning, training and licence renewal for the aviation industry to ensure that the movement of freight remains f luid – and safe – during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to David Alexander, general manager at Professional Aviation Services, concerns over compliance were allayed after the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACA A) moved quickly to ensure that training could be done through an online platform by industry.“E-learning has been a topic of debate for several years in the various SACA A sub-committees and that led to the development of a risk matrix which determines what training and learning can happen online,” he said.
“While this process has been accepted by the various sub committees, it is not yet law. The SACA A has however embraced virtual training and learning for the duration of the pandemic in terms of the Disaster Management Regulations.”
This ensures that crucial qualifications required to operate in the airfreight sector remain intact.Alexander said he knew of at least 3500 qualifications that needed renewal between March and July this year. “Unless this was allowed to be done on a virtual platform these qualifications would have lapsed, putting compliance and safety of operations at risk.”
He said while the government had placed a moratorium on the renewal of qualifications until the end of July, it was essential to have a system in place for renewal training to take place.He said the SACA A had also implemented a system that no longer required an agent to visit companies when regulated agent status came up for renewal.
“Instead a check sheet has been developed which is sent to the company to fill in. Certain records and documents are also required to prove compliance.”
Physical inspections would only take place if any red f lags had been raised, he added.“We have very quickly adopted a virtual compliance environment and it is working very well. The SACA A has been very proactive from the get-go, especially where cargo is concerned. The focus remains on ensuring the f low of cargo, but also that operations are compliant and safe at the same time.”
