Whenever this debate about the safety of some stations not using the English Language comes round again, there is always the old comment that at times the local language is used to put locals ahead in the Que and that the inability to overhear conversations reduced situational awareness.
Lon has hit on a very important point - in years to come much of the ATC/Aircraft communication will be via datalink. There will be no listening in on other aircraft getting clearances or shortcuts that you don't get.
Would the people who complain about using a language other than English be of the opinion that datalink should not be used?
After all it will have the same effect on situational awareness won't it?
The future language of aviation are lots of 1s and 0s and the box will print it out on the flight deck in whatever language you want!
Of course, just briefly touched upon and lost in the mist is the fact that in the UK and the US, the airways traffic shares the same airspace with aircraft who are not capable of communication on the appropriate VHF frequencies.......but does that affect situational awareness...........or are we only talking about awareness of que jumpers?
regards,
DFC