Someone the other day reminded me of the TAAATS introduction and how well it was planned. We had a staff "bowwave" or excess of staff created by training extra for a couple of years before to enable the changeover. We had a training embargo from before the transition to 6 months after(from memory) to enable consolidation. As a consequence the industry suffered probably no effects from the project (and it was a huge undertaking).
The picture now is a different one! We can't even seem to replace retiring staff let alone actually get to full staffing levels. Apparently the college is only putting 25 trainees thru next year (don't think that includes the internationals). Just start to think about how many people are seriously looking outside at the moment and figure out if that will even keep us running.
SDE has been badly mismanaged and why they are even attempting to implement it without the staff to do it amazes me! Of course all the experienced project staff were sacked for telling the truth so maybe they just think it will be alright on the night! Finally, they tell the airlines that SDE will cost no people (ROFL) but that there will be more TIBA due to staff shortage.
We are looking down the barrel (in 6 months) of TIBA thru ML TCU as well because they are not prioritising staff replacements and are filling up ENR first (though it takes twice as long to train TCU). This is actually their plan! Of course, it will be those recalcitrant ATCs causing the staff shortages and not poor planning...
Blue (sorry that got a bit long!)