I’m sorry. I can’t keep quiet on this any longer. If you haven’t been following the news stories about the shortage of air traffic controllers in Australia and the consequential closure of various chunks of airspace, then please, read this editorial from today’s Courier-Mail newspaper, and the comments, many of which appear to have been written by controllers.
I’ll also suggest you have a look at the ATC union’s web site too, Civil Air, for further information.
There have been suggestions from Airservices Australia, the sole employer of civilian air traffic controllers, that the sick leave and “not available for extra duty” is part of an industrial campaign. From my observation, as the partner of a long-term ATC, it is not. The controllers in the centres (Brisbane and Melbourne) are tired of the sheer amount of overtime being offered, the controllers in some of the towers are also tired for the same reason. There has been a growing shortage of controllers in Australia for many years, held together through the sheer professionality and dedication of the remaining controllers. Yes, the money for overtime is big and an obvious incentive to come in (again) and work your day off (again). But there are also regulations prohibiting controllers from active duty should they not feel well. ATC is not like an office where you can pop a couple of pills and “soldier on” for the good of the company. There are thousands of lives at risk each day, all depending upon a clear-headed, fatigue-free controller.
Airservices Australia has been reported as saying there are up to a hundred new recruits ready to be trained. Overlooking the fact it will still take 18 months to get those recruits (assuming they pass the training, there is a high failure rate), where are the resources and controllers in the training academy? Where will Airservices obtain controllers to teach the required knowledge to new recruits if none of the current controllers can be released from duty (because there’s a shortage of controllers)?
And so many controllers are very close to retirement age (unlike much of the workforce, ATC is subject to mandatory retirement age), my own partner included.
If the closed airspace (TIBA) is “safe” as per announcements by CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) and Airservices Australia, why then does QANTAS direct its flight crews to fly around those closed airspaces? Has the national airline done a risk analysis and determined the risks involved are not worth it?
I could go on. I won’t. I’ll finish up by saying to do your own risk analysis before flying in this country any time soon. Just in case.
