‘We must develop future aviation minds in Africa’
RIVERSANDS – Plans are in place to expose the young to the various aviation fields.
Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) hosted the eighth annual AVI Afrique 2019 Innovation Summit at the Canvas Conference Centre in Riversands.
The event, which was hosted from 23 to 24 October, was themed ‘Developing future aviation minds in Africa’. It was attended by many prominent names in the industry, academic experts in the field of aviation, international speakers as well as the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula.
When delivering his keynote speech, Mbalula said that the performance of regular aviation navigation, safety and security of aircraft’s oversight, the management aircraft allies and aviation personnel among others cannot be performed without organisations such as ATNS.
He added, “What we do is for safety and freedom for the skies. In light of this year’s theme and in developing the aviation future, we must develop future aviation minds in Africa for the world, thus I fully support the theme of this year’s summit.
“This region and the continent as a whole requires genuine innovators like ATNS to thrive, therefore we must continue to build occupation hubs for all things aviation.”
Mbalula added that he was pleased that the summit was open to young children so they could learn and be curious about robotics and general aviation.
He said that the government has made a decision that they must develop a scarce knowledge from schools upwards. “The curriculum has to respond to the economy of today, which includes aviation, robotics part-time studies and engineering.
“The Riversands Incubation Hub must be a hub of activity with the input of the young, and girls in particular getting career guidance.
For us to overcome exclusion in this industry we must tap into our young people, transformation may take time, but we must remain steadfast.”
CEO for Air Traffic and Navigation Services, Thomas Kgokolo, also added that this year’s summit touched on a very urgent issue – how to continue to grow and foster the environment where the youth of today are encouraged and excited about choosing a career in aviation.
“The International Air Transport Association has predicted that we can expect big increases in the aviation industry in the next 20 years. These undoubtedly put pressure on governments and stakeholders to make sure the aviation industry can successfully reach its anticipated demand,” he explained.
“This, in turn, presents a bit of a conundrum, accredited training programmes and courses are not always accessible or affordable to developing nations like ours. Therefore, in order to meet global aviation growth and specialised training empowering requirements, we must indeed develop and deploy imaginative and intuitive, educational, free ways that will captivate and encourage young minds to become future aviation officials.”
Details: Air Traffic Navigation Services 086 028 6762.
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