CTOT for VFR

[FelixSaint]

Interesting experiences I’ve heard from multiple guys saying that they need to adhere to a CTOT for VFR flights in the bigger airports .It causes great delays especially for training flights. Some clarity please .

[RVSM]

A3547/24 NOTAMN
Q) FACA/QPFXX/IV/NBO/AE/000/025/3358S01836E005
A) FACT B) 2411080400 C) 2502061000 EST
E) ALL VFR FIXED WING TFC OPR IN AND OUT OF FACT TO COMPLY WITH SLOT COOR MANAGEMENT VIA CENTRAL AIRSPACE MANAGEMENT UNIT (CAMU)

Haven't heard anything about any of the other major airports.

FACT traffic movements are up from last year, taxiway layout isn't great for a mix of VFR and IFR traffic, poor ATC morale/ attitude/ incentive, Covid redefining 'busy', little management oversight in the TWR, no better ideas, etc etc. I didn't think the departures were ever the problem, I thought trying to fit in a bunch of trainers coming back to land during an arrival rush was the hard part. But CTOTs don't fix that.

(I can only imagine the amount of times a VFR departure will call for taxi and be told that they have to call CAMU to replace their expired CTOT, despite it being a Saturday afternoon and the closest arrival 60NMs out - these hard and fast rules invariably end up creating more hassle than they fix)

[Segg]

The slot procedure is in my opinion completely unnecessary in SA, our airports are not nearly busy enough to require them.

Anyway, applying for them isn't too bad once you've wrapped your head around the ridiculous IATA formatting.

You can apply for a slot by emailing or calling

Slots - Coord <slots@airports.co.za>
Coord Camu mailbox <Coord@atns.co.za>
Ops Centre <opscentre@airports.co.za>

Telephone:
Weekdays: +27 11 928 6433
Weekends and After Hours: +27 10 207 2001 or +27 82 782 6351

Your message format will be

SCR (Slot Request)
W20 (IATA Season which follows the northern hemisphere by the way )
21 JUN (Date of Applying for a slot)
CPT – (Airport Concerned)
N (New Request)
ZSABC (Registration/Call Sign)
22 JUN (Date of flight)
1000000 (Placeholder for the day of the week, Monday being Day 1)
001B58 (Amount of pax inbound and type of aircraft in IATA codes)
KXE (IATA code of airport inbound from, ZZZ if N/A)
0545 (time from when the slot must be active so approximately 30mins before ETA)
G (G for normal service, X for training)
/ RE. ZSABC (registration)
N (New Request)
ZSABC (Registration/Call Sign)
23JUN (Date of outbound flight)
0200000 (Placeholder for the day of the week outbound flight, Tuesday being Day 2)
002B58 (Amount of pax and type of AC outbound)
0700 (30mins after departure time just to have the parking for the duration if there’s delays)
GCJ (Airport outbound to - IATA code)
P (Positioning, G for normal service, X for training etc)
/ RE. ZSABC (registration)
BRGDS (Best Regards)

Using this syntax your message will look like this below

SCR
W20
21 JUN
CPT
N ZSTMA 22JUN 1000000 001B58 KXE 0545 G / RE. ZSABC
N ZSTMA 23JUN 0200000 002B58 0700 GCJ P / RE. ZSABC
BRGDS
Segg

For a more in depth guide the attached document is what I used to read up on back in the day when I had to do this regularly.