Money money money...
The bottom line is “money”.
DFS won the contract simply because they were cheaper than NATS.Same reason as the Birmingham contract and the next NATS one !!
NATS ATCOs are some of the best in the world, as are many other ATCOs, however their management still think like civil servants.They are not in the same ‘commercial’ world as other contractors.
NATS needs to wake up, think about cutting their overheads and their bloated head office set up.They need to cut ATCO salaries and staff more realistically, down to competitive levels and then they will be able to compete.It will take several years and lots of contract losses before they do wake up tho’.
As for DFS, if they cannot attract at least 14 ATCOs and 6 OJTIs from the current NATS staff they will struggle to take over.So current staff, here is your ideal (short term) blackmail opportunity.Hold out until the last day of the TUPE transfer and watch DFS squirm.They will have to offer you incredible benefits to attract the 14 ATCOs required.But, you do need to stick together as divided you will fall !!
DFS only need ADV/ADI ratings so it won’t be that difficult to attract foreign ATCOs with those skills.