Sao Tome, July 10, 2025 (Lusa) - The Sao Tome Air Traffic Controllers Association (ACTAS) highlighted on Thursday the need to enhance aircraft safety in Príncipe, coordinating operations from a makeshift tower that relies on limited communication and visibility because professionals are on strike.
“The strike by controllers in the Autonomous Region of Príncipe, which began today and calls for training, undermines the safety of aircraft in our airspace and violates all internationally standardised civil aviation rules and protocols,” the association’s president told Lusa.
The spokesperson for the controllers on strike on the island of Príncipe, Nilson Fernandes, said that the management of the National Air Safety Company (Enasa) and other government institutions received advance notice about the start of the strike, during which the team would provide only minimum services, namely emergency or medical evacuation flights, yet they did not act on the advance notice.
However, according to Nilson Fernandes, in response to the strike notice, Enasa management sent a technician to the island on the pretext of inspecting services and evaluating performance, and he said that he would support the strike.
“To our surprise and deep indignation, after the air traffic controller on duty told him that we would not provide the service because we were on strike, he very arrogantly ordered the air traffic controller on duty to leave his post so that he could take over, and we maintained our position,” he said.
Nilson Fernandes said that the technician sent by Enasa “had a plan B” and started using “a makeshift tower” on a floor below where the meteorological services operate “and began giving instructions to aircraft”.
“It was in the meteorological section, where full visibility of the Príncipe aerodrome remains unavailable and where equipment to ensure communication between the control body and the aircraft for providing landing information is missing, leading to a gross and barbaric violation of all civil aviation rules,” said the union president, Wilber Pinheiro.
According to Pinheiro, Enasa management informed the crew of the two flights this morning about the strike on Príncipe Island before take-off, and the crew continued with the operation on those instructions, which he said was “serious in terms of air traffic control because there was no communication” between the towers.
“This is the first time in all these years that something like this has happened, and it is regrettable. We must hold Enasa management, STP Airways and Afrijet responsible for this, because they are putting people’s lives at risk and this, in the context of international civil aviation, must not happen,” said Wilber Pinheiro, who promised to report the case to international and national authorities.
The air traffic controllers on the island of Príncipe went on strike because Enasa management did not include the three professionals assigned to that region in essential training taking place in Ghana, and the management has not yet provided convincing justification.
"The policy that Enasa has been pursuing concerning us here in Príncipe means that we are practically at a professional standstill. We feel stagnant in space and time," lamented Wilson Fernandes, stressing that they have seven to ten years of service but, due to a lack of training, have not received promotions, as is the case in Sao Tome.
Lusa contacted Enasa’s management, but the attempt remained unsuccessful.
According to professionals, the island of Príncipe receives an average of two flights per day, some of which come directly from abroad, specifically from Libreville, Gabon, and Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
JYAF/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
