I have to agree with EltorroLoco, this is a particularly bad piece of journalism and perhaps mr AF should edit himself a little more thoroughly, for example the quote below from AF
One of the DC-9s had to reposition to Rand Airport for the photo session, but was kept at the holding point for 45min burning expensive Jet A1. Do ATCs realise that this aircraft probably burnt more fuel in value waiting for a departure slot than some of them earn in a month?
Does Mr AF know what he is talking about or where his panties in a twist when he wrote this, the average fuel consumption of a DC9/MD82 during taxi and holding on the ground (both engines) is 22 l/min and the price of Jet A1 is approx R6.66 per litre, so if we use AF's figure of a 45 min hold on the ground that equates to R6593 of fuel burn holding, if we use the more realistic figure from the ATC's of 22 min holding that equates to R3223 burnt while holding. I am not an ATC but I assume the lowest paid ATC earns a hell of a lot more than R3223 per month.
This just serves to illustrate that this article was particularly poorly written. it is insulting to the poor old ATC's firstly with reference to there pay and secondly by implying they are not doing there job properly.
Another Quote from a previous post from Saywhat
SA ATC's undoubtedly control more traffic in SA (JNB) than any other controller anywhere in Europe or the USA. Perhaps not numbers of a/c, but numbers of a/c spoken to simultaneously. Only so many a/c can be controlled at any one time for two reasons. Firstly because of time constraints, and secondly to ensure there is not an information overload for the person controlling. The ATC's can only talk to so many a/c at a time. If more sectors could be open, more traffic could be moved. Unfortunately there is a staff shortage in SA, which will not be remedied in the near future.
The ATC's do an excellent job with limited recourses, has Mr AF considered how much fuel would have been burnt by aircraft on the ground at JHB international whilst waiting for the joy riders at Rand to take off not to mention the inconvenience to hundreds of passengers, I guess not and why would he care he is not paying for that fuel.
Well done ATC's