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Secret plot to privatise air traffic control
Jeanette Oldham
AIR traffic control at ten airports in the Highlands and Islands could be privatised after secret talks between the Scottish Executive and two firms, The Scotsman can reveal.
Opponents, including trade unions and politicians, say privatising the units, which cover the immediate airspace around the airport, could jeopardise safety, drain the public purse and lead to the airports as a whole being sold off.
Alan Denny, the Scottish secretary of Prospect, the controllers’ union, said: "We have seen how privatisation has affected rail safety, we don’t want the aviation equivalent of the Potter’s Bar rail crash in Scotland."
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, which is owned by the Executive and runs ten regional airports including Inverness, is negotiating with the Serco Group and National Air Traffic Services, a public private partnership over management of air traffic control.
Serco Defence will make its pitch for the deal at a meeting with Executive officials and HIAL management on Monday. NATS will do the same a week later, sources said.
Serco Defence last night confirmed talks had taken place. NATS refused to comment on commercial matters.
Executive sources say such a move would rid ministers of the "problem" of the airports and free them up to concentrate on the business of government.
But Mr Denny, whose union represents 3,500 air traffic controllers, said the Executive has made no safety case, no operational case and no economic case for privatising air traffic control at HIAL.
He added: "We are totally opposed to this. You cannot transfer responsibility for safety into the hands of an organisation whose main aim is to make money. Cutting costs always runs the very high risk of cutting corners on safety."
News of the move towards privatisation comes at a time of intense debate over air services to remote communities.
The majority of airports are loss-making and HIAL receives a £16 million subsidy from the Executive each year. Prospect claimed privatisation could see an increase in public subsidy.
Mr Denny added: "Profit-making organisations like Serco and NATS would not take on air traffic control units which make a loss without expecting some kind of subsidies. And that money would have to come from the taxpayer in Scotland."
The privatisation of air traffic control by Labour has been heavily criticised.
A year ago, the government sold a 46 per cent stake in the body to a consortium of UK airlines - including British Airways, British Midland, EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic - for £750 million.
The body is facing a financial crisis - the government yesterday confirmed it is prepared to put a further £65 million into the consortium - as banks threaten to withdraw their support, according to reports.
Privatisation is seen by most within the airline industry as the only means to make available much-needed finance for investment in new technology.
Airlines are not happy at the prospect of being forced to pay higher air traffic control charges in an era when the public is enjoying cheap air fares and when national carriers, such as British Airways, are seeing profits nosedive.
Low cost airlines such as Go, EasyJet and Ryanair, which has been embroiled in a row with the Scottish Executive over subsidies to operate out of Inverness Airport, all operate with much reduced profit margins. Any significant rise in costs which they cannot control could damage their profitability, which could mean higher fares for passengers.
Richard Dawson, the president of the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers, a professional association representing 2,200 civil and military controllers across the UK, said: "Any change in the air traffic service provider would be regulated by the civil aviation authority safety regulation group, based at Aviation House, Gatwick.
"As far as the Guild’s position is concerned, in the short term we would rely on the regulator to maintain existing safety standards.
"The Guild will be following developments closely."
The SNP transport spokesman, Kenny MacAskill, said: "There are some things which should be left to the government to deal with and air traffic control is one of them. PPP is a failed concept, as the recent audit report showed. Safety and privatisation do not go hand in hand as we have seen on many occasions so far."
The Civil Aviation Authority, which governs air traffic control, denied safety was a valid concern with privatisation.
"Air traffic control units have been run by private companies in England for a long time and there is no question that safety has been compromised," a spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for Serco last night confirmed that negotiations were in progress but she said it would not be appropriate to divulge more at this stage.
The Scottish Executive last night denied all knowledge of any approach to Serco or NATS. HIAL declined to comment.