from
www.civilair.asn.au
Media Release: Air Traffic Controller shortage fixed?
Monday, 01 September 2008
Today is the day Australia's chronic shortgae of air traffic controllers should officially end.
That’s the promise of Airservices CEO Greg Russell in an internal email to staff on July 30, responding to criticism of the agency’s inability to provide supervised airspace for flights over Australia.
Earlier, on May 28, Airservices told Senate Estimates hearings that Airservices was working to remedy the official shortfall of 21 air traffic controllers. Civil Air, the air traffic controllers’ association, is sceptical of Airservices’ claims and believes the real figure is more than 100.
Civil Air executive secretary Peter McGuane says Airservices was largely unsuccessful in its efforts to recruit overseas air traffic controllers, and last week was exposed in the media for its impossible commitment to train a further 80-100 new ATCs each year for the next five years.
“Airservices has gutted the Melbourne training academy to save costs and doesn’t have the instructors or capacity to train anything like this number – currently recruits are filling time by
teaching themselves on simulators without supervision from instructors,” he said.
“At the same time, Australian air traffic controllers and their families continue to head overseas for better pay and conditions. In the past two weeks alone a further four ATCs have accepted these offers, and more are anticipated.”
The current staffing situation – and the resulting periods of unsupervised air space, most recently
yesterday in the Canberra area – are the direct consequences of Airservices failure to plan for the future, while indulging in corporate restructures that benefit their profit at the expense of service.
“Air traffic controllers will continue to work as rostered, except when legally barred from duty due to illness or certain prescription medication, and will continue to cover reasonable overtime – but they cannot fix a system that’s been stretched until it’s almost beyond repair.”
“At this stage, we anticipate this will achieve a full staffing complement by the end of August, with new controllers flowing into the system over the coming months. This is just the beginning of our increased recruitment activities with a further 80-100 ATCs to be recruited per year over the next five years. This is a central plank in the reform of the ATC core business.”
Media enquiries should be directed to:
Peter McGuane, Executive Secretary 0412 538 336
Andrew Taylor 0411 156 797