Is European ATC broken?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2025
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Europe
Is European ATC broken?
I’m an air traffic controller somewhere in Europe and I used to be proud of my profession. We provided service, we did our utmost to get aircraft where they wanted to go. We truly earned our salary. Directs, altitudes, you name it. We were always happy to take additional traffic, we would (and we did) make it work. But why the past tense?
Those times are gone. You fly the way you filed. Only as planned, or very standard directs, only the flight level you filed. Even if it means descending 15000 ft 300 miles from your destination. If you are unable to climb to the flight level you filed, it’s somehow (grinding teeth) acceptable. But gosh, if you want higher than filed, you have to be extremely lucky to get there. It doesn’t matter, if someone who actually planned that altitude wants to stay lower. You still won’t get it. Sectors are overprotected, overload is like a red rag to a bull. It all comes down to numbers. Occupancy, entries. Nobody cares if it’s actually possible or not. Individual decisions are frowned upon. People higher up the ladder want to protect themselves from ”what-if’s”. Constant restrictions and regulations. That’s the sad truth of ATC in Europe today.
I don’t completely agree with atcruinedmyholiday, but they’ve got point. Changes are necessary, but the biggest of them is actually rather simple. Attitude.
Those times are gone. You fly the way you filed. Only as planned, or very standard directs, only the flight level you filed. Even if it means descending 15000 ft 300 miles from your destination. If you are unable to climb to the flight level you filed, it’s somehow (grinding teeth) acceptable. But gosh, if you want higher than filed, you have to be extremely lucky to get there. It doesn’t matter, if someone who actually planned that altitude wants to stay lower. You still won’t get it. Sectors are overprotected, overload is like a red rag to a bull. It all comes down to numbers. Occupancy, entries. Nobody cares if it’s actually possible or not. Individual decisions are frowned upon. People higher up the ladder want to protect themselves from ”what-if’s”. Constant restrictions and regulations. That’s the sad truth of ATC in Europe today.
I don’t completely agree with atcruinedmyholiday, but they’ve got point. Changes are necessary, but the biggest of them is actually rather simple. Attitude.
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Southampton
Load balancing by Flow Control between sectors... Most operators flying very similar aircraft over very similar distances want similar cruising levels. Everyone can’t have exactly what they want, but we can give most flights as close to that as we can. European airspace is incredibly busy.
Joined: Jun 2013
Aviation Qualifications: ATCO
Posts: 1,530
Likes: 101
From: Róisín Dubh
I’m an air traffic controller somewhere in Europe and I used to be proud of my profession. We provided service, we did our utmost to get aircraft where they wanted to go. We truly earned our salary. Directs, altitudes, you name it. We were always happy to take additional traffic, we would (and we did) make it work. But why the past tense?
Those times are gone. You fly the way you filed. Only as planned, or very standard directs, only the flight level you filed. Even if it means descending 15000 ft 300 miles from your destination. If you are unable to climb to the flight level you filed, it’s somehow (grinding teeth) acceptable. But gosh, if you want higher than filed, you have to be extremely lucky to get there. It doesn’t matter, if someone who actually planned that altitude wants to stay lower. You still won’t get it. Sectors are overprotected, overload is like a red rag to a bull. It all comes down to numbers. Occupancy, entries. Nobody cares if it’s actually possible or not. Individual decisions are frowned upon. People higher up the ladder want to protect themselves from ”what-if’s”. Constant restrictions and regulations. That’s the sad truth of ATC in Europe today.
I don’t completely agree with atcruinedmyholiday, but they’ve got point. Changes are necessary, but the biggest of them is actually rather simple. Attitude.
Those times are gone. You fly the way you filed. Only as planned, or very standard directs, only the flight level you filed. Even if it means descending 15000 ft 300 miles from your destination. If you are unable to climb to the flight level you filed, it’s somehow (grinding teeth) acceptable. But gosh, if you want higher than filed, you have to be extremely lucky to get there. It doesn’t matter, if someone who actually planned that altitude wants to stay lower. You still won’t get it. Sectors are overprotected, overload is like a red rag to a bull. It all comes down to numbers. Occupancy, entries. Nobody cares if it’s actually possible or not. Individual decisions are frowned upon. People higher up the ladder want to protect themselves from ”what-if’s”. Constant restrictions and regulations. That’s the sad truth of ATC in Europe today.
I don’t completely agree with atcruinedmyholiday, but they’ve got point. Changes are necessary, but the biggest of them is actually rather simple. Attitude.
Pardoned PPRuNer
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 388
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From: GlassGumtree
I'm a controller in Europe and where I work is nothing like what you describe. I'm not convinced you actually are an ATCO because any ATCO gives directs wherever possible because if it gets that aircraft out of their sector faster then it reduces their own workload too. You would also know how the CHMI works and why.
ATCO name checks out
Moderator
Joined: May 1997
Aviation Qualifications: ATCO
Posts: 295
Likes: 138
From: Europe
@Scope : joined only 2 days ago, first post is controversial and looking like a chat GPT generated text , friendly to this " atcruinedourholidays" web site Ryanair campaign . I leave it a bit to see his eventual response before deciding to close this thread or not.
