In a way I genuinely think that NATS management are on a loser here no matter what they do. Continuing the business exactly in its present form is not sustainable. Knowing how deep and quick to cut is in crystal ball territory and whether they get it right or wrong will only be apparent in a few years time. The other question to answer is how did it get so top heavy with non-operational staff in the first place? I have seen some horrendous waste of cash over the years and I'm sure I'm not alone in that, its only now that its suddenly become a major issue and needs stopped urgently! The sad fact is that if spending had been somewhat more closely monitored when times were so good, perhaps the business would be in a better place to face this current situation it finds itself in - just a thought. I recall relatively junior managers getting huge bonuses for managing relatively benign projects that in the private sector would simply be part of their job. People were flying round the country on trivial business meetings involving overnight hotel accommodation, managers seemed to spend their entire working weeks on meetings about meetings, drawing up procedures that needed reviewed every few months which involved more meetings. As someone who has seen both sides of ATC, this just didn't seem normal to me, yet for those that were NATS from trainee days this was the normal practise for them.
I believe NATS has around 5000 employees, I wonder what the future figure is intended to be? I will be very surprised if operational staff escape the grim reaper, as I have said though, there will be some very disgruntled ATCOs/ATSAs if they arent given the opportunity to apply for VR until after next May after watching their non-ops colleagues walk away with eye watering sums of money in the interim.