Privatised ANSP
This is exactly the point that both private business and governments don't like to talk about re privatisation of services that have been traditionally provided by governments. In the past decades these have included hospitals, prisons and, in aviation, airports and ANSPs. There already instances wherein a private operator went bankrupt or was otherwise unable financially to continue operating (a failed experiment in Texas re privatised prisons comes to mind). They key, to me at least, is the question of privatisation of "critical infrastructure'. Meaning those services that, if non-functional, have an immediate, significant and unacceptable effect on the country or society. Obviously prisons, and most hospitals, are examples of institutions or services that must continue to operate at some level. I.e. government cannot simply say, "We'll just let it close and grow mouldy." Clearly there are examples in aviation: A particular airport or airport control tower could close unexpectedly and not result in a national crisis. But an ACC? Or an international airport (there are countries that have privatised their only international airport -- a capital city). If that operator ceases operations one morning, what then? When that very question is brought up at discussions about privatisation of "critical infrastructure" the question is either met with blank stares and silence, or someone says "Well, the government would have to immediately step in, wouldn't they?". Yes, they would - if they can.
About 20 years ago a recently privatised over-leveraged ANSP ran out of money. To save face the government sold off a little bit more to give the appearance of success. Despite privatisation the ANSP has no control over charging and the government is currently pushing a scheme which would bankrupt the ANSP in the event of a downturn. Oddly, the “gold-standard” branch of government in charge of squeezing the purse strings is also in charge of safety.
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About 20 years ago a recently privatised over-leveraged ANSP ran out of money. To save face the government sold off a little bit more to give the appearance of success. Despite privatisation the ANSP has no control over charging and the government is currently pushing a scheme which would bankrupt the ANSP in the event of a downturn. Oddly, the “gold-standard” branch of government in charge of squeezing the purse strings is also in charge of safety.
I understand your rhetoric, but simply displacing facts with opinion serves only to mislead those who aren’t informed.
businesses should manage risks to pre-empt their exposure to risks such as pandemic
”Hey airlines, we’re just going to increase our charges by 50% this year to save for a black swan event”, I can imagine how that would play with Messers O’Leary, Cruz, Etc.
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Let's face it: there are not many "companies" like ANSP's that make 20% returns so please let them go bust and be replaced by proper companies that are paid extra when they do a good service. ANSP's are the top paid civil servants in some countries and that are messing up all the efficiencies that aviation could make overnight if we made it a true single european sky.
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In terms of your concern for Mssrs O’Leary, Cruz et al, and as an IATA colleague and customer frequently points out to me, “the airlines pay for everything” ... so whether they pay before or afterwards, it’s always their money that’s used (!)
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Let's face it: there are not many "companies" like ANSP's that make 20% returns so please let them go bust and be replaced by proper companies that are paid extra when they do a good service. ANSP's are the top paid civil servants in some countries and that are messing up all the efficiencies that aviation could make overnight if we made it a true single european sky.
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So with regards to the C word..
What do you think the reaction will be if and when (hopefully never) someone at an ATC unit catches it?
Quarantine a whole ATC unit? What if it's an ACC?
What do you think the reaction will be if and when (hopefully never) someone at an ATC unit catches it?
Quarantine a whole ATC unit? What if it's an ACC?
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Surely its inevitable that someone within ATC catches it somewhere! Suppose different employers will have different plans in place. At the rate things are going there won't be that many flights disrupted if there's no controllers anyway! We are on permanent disinfection mode in my unit, hand washing and sanitising everything including phones and touch panels. Are we just kidding ourselves, who knows?
The real question and debate amongst my colleagues is what state is ATC going to be in when this is all over. Airports are going to want to cut costs drastically over the next while, contracts are going to come under immense pressure - both NATS and private ANSPs. Reduce ATC staff to the bone now with redundancies and it'll be difficult to get back up and running again if traffic levels recover, maybe traffic levels will take so long to recover it won't matter. Lots of questions but no-one with answers at this stage, not a good time to be in the business.
The real question and debate amongst my colleagues is what state is ATC going to be in when this is all over. Airports are going to want to cut costs drastically over the next while, contracts are going to come under immense pressure - both NATS and private ANSPs. Reduce ATC staff to the bone now with redundancies and it'll be difficult to get back up and running again if traffic levels recover, maybe traffic levels will take so long to recover it won't matter. Lots of questions but no-one with answers at this stage, not a good time to be in the business.
Let's face it: there are not many "companies" like ANSP's that make 20% returns so please let them go bust and be replaced by proper companies that are paid extra when they do a good service. ANSP's are the top paid civil servants in some countries and that are messing up all the efficiencies that aviation could make overnight if we made it a true single european sky.
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Aerodromes:
GCXO (Tenerife North), GCLP (Gran Canaria), GCTS (Tenerife South)
High delays for arrival traffic due to COVID-19 reduced staffing throughout the day.
LEPA (Palma)
Moderate delays for arrivals due to COVID-19 reduced staffing.
Airspace:
LECB (Barcelona)
Delays throughout the day in several sectors (Levante sector, high delays) due to COVID-19 reduced staffing.
LECM (Madrid)
Pamplona , Domingo & Toledo sector's regulated throughout the day due to reduced staffing (COVID-19).
High delays.
NM will offer RRP's where available.
NMOC Brussels