Just to be clear, I wasn't just talking about NATS airports.
The fact that three large airports have recently changed their ANSP doesn't materially affect the total numbers of controllers/potential controllers in the pool.
What does this are myriad factors, such as NATS dramatically reducing the training pipeline a few years ago, providing an attractive voluntary redundancy package, and such changes such as the rehashing of training and retention of those who did not make it through Area/TMA/TC Approach validation, what, ten years ago? Before then, many who didn't quite make it to validation at West Drayton/Swanwick would still have a Student aerodrome rating, and would either stay within NATS and work at an airport, or leave NATS and be picked up by another airport. Airports back then had effectively a 'free' pipeline of trainees, and there was a large pool of them.
Since that pipeline has been turned off, the pool has been reducing in size, compounded by the effect of the closure of Cwmbran.
UK ATC as a whole is in a staffing crisis, and that's before one speculates on the effects of the pension freedoms enjoyed by a large proportion of the NATS ATCO workforce with 15+ years experience.
We live in interesting times.
I haven't noticed any change in motivation in trainees I've met to those I trained with nearly 20 years ago.
Last edited by Gonzo; 4th Dec 2017 at 10:33.