Johannesburg - Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), a state-owned company responsible for running the country's air-traffic control systems, released better-than-expected financial results in spite of a slump in the global aviation industry.
Attributable earnings for the year to March rose 28 percent to R25.1 million.
The company's training academy, which was in its second year after restructuring, contributed R10 million to revenues, which stood at R283 million - a 19 percent rise from R238 million in the previous year.
Glenn van Heerden, the chairman of ATNS, said the board was reviewing the structure of the company's balance sheet to ensure that optimum gearing levels and returns were achieved without affecting the customers, other than the agreed tariff increases.
"During the year in question, the regulator has provided ATNS with a targeted return on capital employed of 14 percent to be achieved by the end of year three . Simultaneously, it has pegged ATNS tariff increases to about 10 percent per annum over the next three-year period, which implies that the company's focus to become a low-cost producer is vital," Van Heerden said.
Insurance cover for the industry had also experienced exorbitant increases for reduced cover due to the menace of terrorism. The ATNS' cover for this aspect was reduced to a maximum of $50 million while premiums had increased by over 300 percent for this lower-level cover.
The company said it experienced a 17 percent increase on salary expenses as a result of increased numbers of trainees. The company said this expense would continue in future as part of its decision to make the company more reflective of the demographics of the country.
The state-owned enterprise said one of the challenges that the industry faced was to make intraAfrica air travel less cumbersome.
"We foresee an increase of some 2 percent in frequencies in the year that lies ahead."