chevvron

Riveroak apparently hope to re-open in about May 2022; they'll need all that time to 'de-contaminate' (probably re-surface) the runway from all that oil dripped by lorries on the surface.

250 kts

There is a serious danger of a domino effect now. If other airport operators see the likes of Gatwick being bid for and won by NATS solutions, then why wouldn't they want the same? Serious stuff and Prospect will have their work cut out over the next few months.

Gonzo

I don’t think anyone should be surprised by this, least of all by the fact that ‘full fat’ NSL didn’t bid.

Wasn’t it admitted as part of the ‘launch’ of Solutions that any further contract tender where NSL was not the incumbent would see a Solutions bid?

mike current

What are the differences between an NSL and a Solutions contract in practical terms for the staff?
The final salary pension no longer applies to new contracts anyway, so there's no difference there.

Gonzo

Different pay scales, so one could argue it’s more of an issue for anyone joining the unit after the takeover, who won’t be TUPE’d.

escaped.atco

The LGW contract will be an interesting one. In theory they should have retained their NATS original Terms & Conditions when they were transferred to ANS, if so it should be a straightforward process to TUPE again back into the NATS brand albeit under the Solutions name. There may well be lots of things that older staff members did under NATS, continued to do under ANS and will again continue to do under Solutions. I've heard a variety of rumours that the LGW staff had in some cases negotiated better Terms & Conditions for certain practises that they had under NATS originally - fair play to them for doing so - it'll be interesting to see if NATS are happy to let that continue or will they try and bring them back to standard practise. The NATS handbook will no longer apply in lots of areas, the ANS handbook will be what they have used and should be what is brought with them. In reality I'm sure NATS will want them aligned as closely as possible to the real NATS. Pay scales, not sure how they have diverged over the time they have been with ANS, they will have to fight for their own pay deals rather than getting a blanket deal that Prospect has agreed for real NATS. NATSAGs, if theres been any new ones in the last few years they wont apply to Solutions.

Having reread through this thread, there was a lot of talk about NATS arrogance and how this was contributory to losing the contract in the first place. What has changed??? I believe LGW were short staffed and struggling to get trainees through, or happily chopping them if rumours were to be believed to prove a point! NATS have no trainees in the college at present, I understand prospect wont allow real NATS staff to go work for a Solutions unit so where are they going to get recruits from?

As the Solutions model gets used more, the large standard NATS Terms and Conditions normal package is going to get fragmented and diluted as different airports will be using different handbooks and practises etc. That group bargaining power will soon disappear, interesting times ahead.