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Remote Towers

REMOTE CONTROL

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER SHORTAGE These delays are not evenly spread across
the European Air Navigation Service Provider
A NEW TRAVEL DISRUPTION (ANSPs), but rather are concentrated in a few
areas that regularly are not been able to meet
 Jay Menon capacity demands during peak periods.
“Europe is clearly not ready to meet the traf-
Airlines have found a new excuse to flight delays: shortage of fic levels of 2019 (expected to be reached in
air traffic controller staffing. Quite recently, a pilot of a leading 2025), let alone the 44 per cent increase in
Indian airliner faced a major embarrassment when he was caught traffic forecast for 2050 (1.2 per cent average
attributing a flight delay to the Air Traffic Controllers to cover up annual growth from 2019),” it says.
the absence of his co-pilot. Following the incident, the Airports
Authority of India raised the issue with the airline, asking it not Mid last year, the FAA had also issued a
to pass the blame for flight delays falsely to the ATC. travel warning to passengers that flights to
and from airports in New York City could be
Of late, pilots do announce way beyond their scheduled take delayed on the ground for up to two hours,
off time that they are “still awaiting clearance for pushback due to lack of air traffic controllers. The New
and startup”. Besides pilot shortage, a shortage of air traffic York City delays exposed a massive staffing
controllers has travellers facing a new disruption at the airport. crisis among air traffic controllers, which had
been building for years but has been greatly
Air traffic control issues are triggering hours long flight delays, exacerbated by the pandemic.
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Eurocontrol, a
pan-European, civil-military organisation dedicated to supporting The FAA claims that its hiring goals are on
European aviation, have said. target to match traffic volume. However,
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
“ATC capacity/staff shortages are a major cause of delays in (NATCA) President Rich Santa was quoted by
Europe, costing over €800 million this year. As traffic recovers the media as saying that “in 2011, there were
and grows, this is likely to continue,” warns Eurocontrol. over 11,750 Certified Professional Controllers
For the first 11 months of 2022, Air Traffic Control Officer (ATCO) [CPCs] and additional trainees yielding over
shortages and subsequent lack of capacity have amounted to 15,000 total controllers on board at the FAA.
7.43 million minutes of en-route Air Traffic Flow Management By the beginning of 2022, there were more
(ATFM) delay (for 8.56 million flights), according to Eurocontrol. than 1,000 fewer fully certified controllers,
ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023 | 17