Slot management & Flight Planning Specialist??

[sidsnstars]

I would like to know everyones views on if slot management and flight planning is considered a specialist role within Ops and if so is it a good idea to have a specialist team working in it? The airline I work for is currently about to kick its dedicated team out of the seat and let others be trained up with the intention of swapping everyone around on a day to day basis.

I have worked in slot management for a couple of years now and consider it to be very specialist, getting to know and understand the regulations, airspace, re-routes, RCA and building up an excellent relationship with CFMU and LATCC and I for one am very concerned about the thought of letting inexperience and unqualified people jump into the seat and potentially ruin it all.

This airline flys a lot of short sectors and a lot of medium range ones through europe and whilst I am very much for training up new people I dont agree that our ops manager thinks that anyone and everyone can do the job.

Your thoughts please..............

[fullthrottle]

I agree with you sidsnstars. - Without a doubt flight planning and slot coordination has to be considered a specialist role and anyone who thinks otherwise clearly is demonstrating a lack of understanding of the issue and job. The airspace over UK and Europe is getting more and more congested and if we start putting people in flight planning that do not understand it properly then its just going to make life harder for everyone.

I am sure that the controllers in Eurocontrol and London appreciate airlines who employ staff with much more of an understanding than those who just abuse the system and clearly dont understand?


F T.

[ 01 September 2001: Message edited by: fullthrottle ]

[no sig]

sidsnstars/ft
You seem to forget it was the very same ops mgr who set the dedicated team up in first place and in fact agrees with you for the most part. However, there is nothing about the ATSC position that should not be understood by any ops officer worth his or her salt, you know this is an ops function in many airlines anyway. And of course who is suggesting ops officers who are not ready will be manning this position. You might wonder why I been pushing the training with such vigor.

Perhaps we should have this discussion in the office rather than debate it here. Clearly, by your comments here you do not understand the approach to this that is being taken.

[ 01 September 2001: Message edited by: no sig ]

[Wizdum]

Have to disagree here. Flight planning and slot management are two major responsibilities of any operations control unit. Why would a company not train all their ops staff in these areas? An officer who does not know how to flight plan or maintain a good relationship with CFMU is not really much good to any airline. I can't really understand how you've come up with this opinion. :confused:

[The Groover]

Full throttle, if you feel your fellow collegues do not have the ability 'to understand it properly' then your ops department as a whole cannot be functioning properly.
Your point on this issue being a specialist one is absolutely correct, but so is flight planning, crew duty, and various performance issues which any good ops controller in this day and age should have a good working knowledge of, in fact as we keep hearing in these pages, isn't the trade pretty specialist generally ??.
If they are never trained, then how are they to learn ?? I think your Ops Manager has made a good call here.......pity his staff are not giving it the support it deserves.

TG

[moufflon]

I don't know which airline this concerns, but in general I believe this issue has a lot to do with the size of the organisation.

For instance, in a v. large airline, ops duties are divided and specialised for efficiency. There are probably enough flights to justify someone whose duties only concern slot management. But then in a tiny organisation one person has the time to do everything from flightplanning to booking crew hotels (and time to get good at all duties).

Business management studies have proven the efficiency of division of labour in a large organisation, but this loses effectiveness if the company is downsizing.

Sidsnstars - as long as your colleagues have the time and the training, don't underestimate a good dispatcher/controller's ability to adapt and become good at any duty!

End of lecture!!

[5552N0426W]

sidsnstars
I really think you have a chat with your Ops Manager. Anyone who has been given the position of Ops Controller has had to prove themself in many ways to attain that status. I have worked with and known your Ops Manager for around 20 years and I find it very strange that you cannot sort this out by a quick chat.
In any Airline, all Ops staff require to be fully functional in all the aspects of the "Ops Controller" position and at the end of the day you're responsible for the running of your shift. I assume you had to be trained in various aspects of the job and slot management / flight planning is a crucial task. The junior staff in your department cannot progress and be a help to you if they don't understand all the facets of the positions - so they require training.

The Airline I work for is not as large as the one that you or no sig are employed by and we don't have anywhere near the amount of Ops Staff you have but we will not let people lose on their own if there is any doubt whatsoever that they cannot accomplish the task.

They've got to learn to be a part of the team and they'll look to you for help. Help them when they ask and be assured that if you have the dedication to the job that you portray, they will also