Any ATCO opportunities in Europe?
 

Hi there,

I'm a Spanish ATCO thinking about relocating somewhere else. I have been going through the forum and apparently there are many opportunities in the Middle East, but I haven't found anything about Europe so far.

Is any ANSP recruiting experienced ATCOs in Europe? If I had to choose, my preferred location would be Scandinavia or the Baltic Republics.

I've had a look at Eurocontrol but there are no jobs posted there. I would not mind leaving the frequency for an office position related to ATC.

Cheers,

SM

What languages do you speak? And which do you hold ICAO-proficencies for and at what level?

Just thinking that if you want to move to say, Denmark, you will most likely need at least an ICAO level 4 in Danish to be allowed to work there, and probably a lot higher then that to actually get through the training to validate.

I speak Spanish (ICAO level 6) and English (ICAO level 5). I heard of a controller who apparently went to Norway without speaking Norwegian, but with the commitment to learn it within a certain deadline, one and a half years or something like that.

I have a legal background. Used to be a lawyer in a big law firm, and that's why I thought about switching to an office position.

LookingForAjob, could you explain more about the European license? why would one lose the license when going abroad? I understand the license just holds valid because the initial training was done in Europe; afterwards you just have to validate in a given station, tower or enroute. At least that's how it works in Spain...

That sounds pretty bad. 3 years is very few time for a license to expire. Going back is usually difficult; not at every time ATCOs are needed. It might be hard to make it all work, I mean, leaving at the right time and being able to come back at the right time.

Does the risk of being unemployed for some time really exist? Maybe someone who has worked abroad and came back to Europe can share his or her experiences...

ACR Sweden are currently recruiting ATCO´s.

But you need Swedish level 4.

acr-sweden

Requirements for ATCOs in ACR are according to Commission Regulation EU No 805/2011).

Air traffic controller ratings and rating endorsements shall comply to the content in articles 10 and 11 for ADI/TWR/RAD, APS/RAD, APP
Language at least ICAO level 4 in English and Swedish.
The training has to be completed in a certified training organization within EU.

Licence validity
 

EU 805/2011 Articles 9 & 10 cover licence and rating validity.

Articles 11 & 12 cover rating and unit endorsements and validity of same.

A unit endorsement is only valid if checked every 12 months.

If you fail to exercise a rating during a 4 year period then it becomes invalid.

Each Unit will have a Unit training plan to cover this eventuality.

Yes.

Unless there is a requirement for your rating mix when you seek a position then your chances can be slim.

Thanks for your reply Confused ATCO!

I am familiar with 805/2011, but did not know about the 4 year term that would make a license that has not been used in Europe invalid. That's a pretty awful provision probably set forth to retain ATCOs within the Eurozone.

I left the UK to work in the Middle East and even though I was valid near enough continuously, on return to the UK six years later I was required to do an Assessment of Prior Competance for each rating held. A straight forward but costly exercise!

LookingForAJob, that sounds real bad... it is true that right now in many countries there is no initial training available for ATCOs. Some ANSPs just want to make do with the current staff without hiring for the moment... there is a shortage of ATCOs but they still do not want to hire more.

It seems easier to move to the Middle East that somewhere else in Europe. Language barriers and reluctance to hire...

I am surprised that some countries require languages that are not even OACI languages to apply for ATCO positions.

Why?

For example, if you work in Sweden, you would need to know Swedish (level 4 I think the requirement is).

Swedish is to my knowledge not an ICAO language, but it is approved for communications in Sweden. There is even a Swedish spelling-alphabet (ie a Swedish version of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc) to be used in Swedish comms.

Also coordination would be done in Swedish, local procedures written in Swedish. People calling on the external phone line (for those regional towers where you might quite often be the only person there, no supervisor or admin staff to take the phone for you) will expect you to be able to have a conversation in Swedish.


There are ICAO languages, but there is also the society within the air traffic control unit functions. Quite often this requires the controllers to know the local language, Maastricht is one of the few excemptions I can think off where you would not have to know the local language to work. I have a faint memory of reading that Rein have recruited non-german speaking controllers too, so I'm assuming all coordination has to be done in English then.

Local language
 

What he said...

How do you coordinate internally in Spain? In Spanish I assume?

e.g. Not speaking Spanish in Spain with Spanish controllers would put you at a serious disadvantage! ;)

SM look on the individual web sites for Bretigny and Luxembourg. There may be vacancies there not making it onto the Eurocontrol web site.

Crazy Voyager, internal communications between ATCOs are carried out in Spanish, but they could be done in English. I agree with you that coordination with the airport probably would have to be done in the local language because there is people who are not required to speak English.

Lon More, thanks for your advice! I will have a look at Bretigny and Luxembourg! :-)

But Spanish is still an approved language for communication isn't it? I know it might change, but at the moment, it is.

My point is though that even if ATC was 100% english, there are still times when ATCOs may need to communicate directly with outside agencies in their local language, therefore I don't think it is strange to ask that controllers have a basic knowledge of the local language.