Originally Posted by OFSO
Personally, given the Government dithering mentioned here and the lack of resources, I think NATS do an excellent job most of the time.
Lack of resources? At NATS ? That's an interesting one.
What was it someone said earlier that the "new" centre at Swanwick cost?
A couple of billion ?
And how much is salted away in the taxpayer funded NATS pension fund ?
And who bought a 21% stake of NATS in September 2013 from a bundle of airlines who bailed out ? Aviation people ? Nope, pensions people - specialists in pensions funded by another other great UK gravy train/feed trough, the great British higher education system (sic)! And now they (USS Sherwood - with the starship sounding name that you can use to deflect your own curiosity at this point and look no further if you wish) seem to own half of the Airlines Group 42% share of NATS!
I think I read somewhere before Swanwick was operational that the NATS pension scheme held funds of over £3BN. Its probably nearer double that now.
Anyone who knows here who might tell us?
Control of a heap of money like that sitting sweetly doing nothing except endlessly attracting more and more taxpayer contributions makes the everyday business of finding resources to push tin look a bit dulled now in comparison.