The South African (SA) Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the aviation sector is equipped to manage changing weather conditions affecting parts of the country.

Inclement weather continues to impact the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape provinces , with strong winds and heavy rain reported in several areas.

CAA Executive Poppy Khoza says the aviation system is designed to operate under complex conditions.

Khoza says, “Civil aviation is built around those complexities, including adverse weather conditions and so on, but the system is designed equally to withstand and/or have an ability to navigate within those complexities.”

“One of the things that I can say is that when the weather is adverse such that an aircraft is unable to take off, the pilot is able to take a decision, assisted by the air navigation service provider and, in this instance ants, so there are a lot of checks and balances in the system that are built to ensure that aircraft when they navigate through these adverse weather patterns, they do so safely,” Khoza adds.

Khoza was speaking on the sidelines of the 2026 National Aviation Conference in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg.

–SABC–