Shifts and rosters
 

Hi

Looking at differences in shift patterns at various airports within the Uk

Can anyone please give me details for

Gatwick
Heathrow
East Midlands
Luton
Birmingham

Qualified in both tower and approach, ready for a new challenge

Any help would be appreciated

Normally 6 on 4 off. 2 earlies, 2 lates, 2 nights/days, 4 off (or sleep day plus 3)

Wow! I wish i worked there...

Thanks.

Is it the same for all units?

I assume the times for say Gatwick are early shift is 5.30-1400, afternoon 1400 - 2130 and nights are 2130-0530?

trying to work out how it effects my daily routine with the family!

With leave, etc, it works out around 180 days work each year. 6 days leave equals 14 days at home. AND.. you get paid too!

Aye, it's not a bad life really eh?

Colleague of mine at Heathrow moved to a new house. Some while later a neighbour visited his wife and said they were sorry that her husband appeared to be out of work and they'd had a whip-round for him!!

@ HEATHROW DIRECTOR: do those 180 days include leave days or not?

In Spain, we work in 8-day cycles: 2 earlies, 2 lates, 1 nights/days, 3 off (or sleep day plus 2). If you divide 365 days/8 = 45.6 working cycles. Our yearly holidays are 6 cycles + 1 extra cycle (this one has to be authorised by the management, if it isn´t, you get paid), so we really work 38.6 cycles, that is 38.6x5 = 192.5 effective work days a year.

In your case, you work 10-day cycles, so 365/10 = 36.5 cycles = 219 working days. So if as you say, you work 180 days, that leaves 39 paid days off, that is 6.5 cycles of holidays.

Is this correct?

lssar

33 days leave plus 8 bank holidays (all paid).

However the company takes 3 days extra duty back (for emergency training etc) to even out the fact we work less than normal hours per week on average.

So in total 181 days attendance/

NB this is for units with 24 hour operation as day 7 is counted as a sleep day.

NATS units that are not 24 hours work 6 on 3 off with 33 days leave and 8 bank holidays. Not sure if they have extra duty days or if so, how many.

And you only get the 33 days after 10 years service. For new starters, it's 28 days. After 8 years, you go to 30. After 10 years, you get the 33.

Each unit is different. I'm not familiar with KK, but i think your assumption is wrong.

At one london airport the shifts are:

Morning 07:00-13:30 (though there are early start variations from 06:00)
Afternoon 13:30-22:00 (again there are various shifts allocated each month by roster - late start/finish for example 15:00-23.30)
Night 22:00-07:00

The individual work practise agreements at each unit may have a collection of other shifts such as day shifts to maximise flexibility.

@LookingForAJob

You mean, as a trainee - licence not needed...

Okay, that is clear now, thanks!

Anyway, I forgot to mention that training is not included in those work days: when we have a training session, it is usually from 0830 till 1400, and they put it in your roster the day before a cycle begins: 2 earlies, 2 lates, 1 night/day, 2 off (or sleep day plus 1), training ... So, de facto, this cycle is a 5 on 2 on 1, and the next is a 6 on 3.

Other 6 on 2 are scheduled in heavy traffic seasons like Summer or Passion Week, or any time the managers decide it is necessary. All these extra working days add nothing to your salary, and were not included in my former calculations.

Of the above, I would imagine you can only apply to East Mids, which is a non Nats unit, and BHX, which is soon to become a non Nats unit.
For the other ones I am not aware you can actually directly applyto. Nats recruitment is not unit specific, although in the past the company have done so causing the anger of employees and unions that must have been so furious to even declare themselves "peed off", all to be then swept under the carpet of the Working Together utopia.

However don't quote me on it - it wouldn't be the first time that an external candidate gets preferential treatment over controllers that have served years within Nats.

Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton work basically the same.
cycles of 10 days with 2 mornings (7am til 2pm), 2 afternoons (2pm until 10pm) and 2 nights or spins (mornings or afternoons). At night you won't work more than 5 hours in total, the rest will be sleeping time.
Some days you will do early morning start, mainly hearthrow, which is between 6am and 6.30 am. On those days you are sent home earlier (between 10am and afternoon).
As HD says it is 180 days of proper work at the end of the year. 18 days a month with 28 days of leave + 8 days of bank holidays, which means you work 10 months.
On heathrow we do between 30 minutes and 90 minutes of controlling on mornings and afternoons, followed by a 30 min brake and so on...

I thought that people who came from overseas even with a euro licence had to learn the uk way is that not true then???

Having trained controllers abroad I sincerely hope that the CAA would have the final say on whether to employ someone from overseas and to decide whether they should sit UK exams, etc. I know that some overseas governments who sponsor trainees in this country accept statements that the person has "undergone a course of training" for the issue of a licence. We have a very precious ATC system in the UK; let's keep it that way.

@LookingForAJob

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you regarding the EU issued licence. I also agree about the possibility of applying to some of the UK ATC Units.

However here we are talking about NATS units mostly. And as @YouSaidBolt mentioned, no vacancies for experienced controllers. I think going through the whole process will be the way.
But, I may be mistaken...

OK VL. Thanks for that. I'm retired and I bet I've been wrong many more times than you!

Thanks very much for the accurate information.

We tried contacting NATS via the careers section of the website to enquire about vacancies still awaiting a reply regarding the listed airports... apparently you do agree to be flexible with locations if successful in your application.

Will try and find out if East Midlands and Birmingham have vacancies, Birmingham is expanding and with the change everyone starts fresh. Any ideas who is taking over? Inhouse or Serco?

Once again thanks