The Australian July 31, 2008
Air boss blames union for gaps in traffic control
THE problems with the nation's air traffic control system are the fault of an industrial campaign, excessive sick leave and an outdated endorsement system rather than staff shortages, the chief executive of Airservices Australia claimed yesterday.
Greg Russell told an aviation conference in Sydney there had been only seven incidents where pilots were left flying without air traffic control over 2006 and 2007, years where there were no wage negotiations.
But since October last year, there had been more than 140 interruptions to service, with about the same number of air traffic controllers. "You may well ask what's so different in 2008 and I think the answer is pretty obvious," he said.
Mr Russell said Airservices was short of about 17 controllers on the basis of "the current inefficient way" it operated.
"Is it a critical shortage? No." he said. "But it can sound very persuasive when it's being talked up in a year of wage negotiations."
Airservices had a training and recruitment initiative under way "after some years of neglect".
But it needed to move ahead with a program to improve the efficiency of airspace management, as well as tackling restrictive union work practices in areas such as rostering and absenteeism, he said.
One problem was that 144 separate endorsements were needed to work across the 32 sectors of Australian airspace.
Last edited by Slugfest; 31st Jul 2008 at 05:39.