This leads on a broader question.
Is ATC fit for privatisation?
Both at Brum and Gatters the change has been to either an in-house solution, or a contract over 10 years.
The shortest contract options I have heard off are over 5 years.
If each contract is 5 years, and there is at least a 12 month changeover period at the end, it means these things run over several company budgets (and probably at least 2 almost completely different boards/high level mangement teams).
The combination of this being so very long term (in a world where short term financial gain seems to be everything) combined with the potential massive loss to the economy if several of these contracts go wrong at once, makes me wonder if the Germans may have got this one right.
By not allowing the major airports ATC to leave the monopoly the have safegaurded their national interest. Making sure the major airports (that in some ways help fuel the national economy) shouldn't be under risk of a transfer of contract going wrong. At the same time they allow their regional airports to open bids for ATC, but on a national scale a loss of Paderborn isn't going to have ahuge effect. If Frankfurt shut down for a week though, that would be, interesting.
Privatisation can be very good, but I'm not convinced everything is better privatised. The second largest airport in the UK might be one of those things, interesting years ahead for sure.