Sao Tome, July 21, 2025 (Lusa) - Sao Tome and Principe air traffic controllers are threatening to strike next week, denouncing a “serious institutional and technical crisis” at the National Airports and Air Safety Company (ENASA), according to a strike notice sent on Monday to Lusa.
In the notice, which was received by the Ministry of Infrastructure on Friday, the São Tomé Air Traffic Controllers’ Union (SINCTAS) denounces “a series of structural failures and harmful management practices” that it attributes to “the current ENASA Directorate-General, the effects of which seriously jeopardise the operational safety of national civil aviation”, compromise the country’s image internationally, “and result in substantial financial losses to the State”.
Among the main problems, the union highlights the existence of "potholes on the runway covered with concrete, reducing the capacity of the infrastructure, contrary to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and "chronic and permanent failures in the coordination system" of air traffic services with neighbouring countries since the beginning of the year.
The union also points to the “lack of control of the Libreville-Lagos route” that crosses São Tomé’s airspace “with direct implications for operational safety and revenue for the company”.
The “absence of radar coverage, lack of firefighting equipment at São Tomé Airport and total absence at Príncipe aerodrome, as well as the deliberate concealment of operational failures from airlines by ENASA’s Directorate-General” are denounced by air traffic controllers.
These professionals also point to internal problems, namely what they consider to be “clientelist and divisive management, with the distribution of positions, travel and perks to certain professionals, to the detriment of merit and transparency, as well as the appointment and awarding of confidential compensation to those who guarantee protection for this management in the face of its poor management”.
Some of these problems "have been duly communicated to the relevant ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office throughout this legislative term, through various formal channels, without any response to date. This lack of action constitutes institutional complicity with the current state of degradation of the air navigation sector", the document reads.
SINCTAS adds that the strike notice is also in solidarity with the air traffic controllers stationed in the Autonomous Region of Príncipe, who have been on strike since last week.
The union considers that “the institutional disrespect shown by the Directorate-General of ENASA in failing to recognise the fairness of the demands of the professionals assigned to Príncipe, namely the right to training in approach control, which is necessary and urgent given the operational reality of the regional aerodrome and in accordance with ICAO requirements and international best practices, is unacceptable”.
SINCTAS condemns the stance taken by the Directorate-General of ENASA, which it accuses of "not only ignoring the advance notice and strike action taken by colleagues posted to the Autonomous Region of Príncipe, but also promoting clearly illegal and anti-union actions".
The union adds that, if there is no response to its demands, it will go on strike from Wednesday next week (July 30), at 7 a.m., for a period of five days intermittently over a month, during which "minimum services will be guaranteed in accordance with the law", namely "assistance to aircraft in emergency, medical evacuation between the islands and overflight assistance".
JYAF/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
