cottam approach - NATS is very short sighted, especially when it comes to trainees. We need a fair trickle to come through as it takes so long to validate, especially on the Area side. NATS has always been boom and bust - in 2001 the course sizes doubled and students at Hurn were workng shifts... until NATSD realise it was counter productive and suddenly cottoned on to the fact that if the pass rate was as normal, there would be a lot of hold-overs at units before live training could commence
Not just man-power either though - some important projects have been pushed to one side because the traffic levels have dropped... despite the fact that now is the ideal time to get the airspoace sorted before the traffic hits us (and we are more able to spare people from the Ops room at the moment to work on projects).
That said, it is a good company to work for - led by donkeys but the lower levels are staffed by very good people.