Shortage of air traffic controllers hinders the restoration of passenger air travel

Due to a shortage of air traffic controllers at airports in Europe and the United States, flights are delayed and canceled. The scale of the problem is significant, and this, according to experts, does not allow airlines to finally recover from the decline in traffic during the pandemic. The solution to this problem may take two to three years, experts say.

According to European Air Traffic Safety Organization (Eurocontrol), over the past year due to a shortage of air traffic controllers and airspace closures in Europe, the number of flight delays has increased by 37%. And in July, almost half of the flight delays were due to these reasons. In the US, according to the Department of Transportation, 20 of the 26 busiest air transport hubs have 85% or less air traffic control staff.

To compensate for the shortage of staff, dispatchers have to work overtime and on a six-day schedule.

And while many airlines are now reporting record profits amid the recovery in passenger traffic after the pandemic, they are losing significant funds on unsold tickets and rising operating costs. According to the same Eurocontrol, last year flight delays cost air carriers more than €800 million. strikes now pilots, now air traffic controllers, as well as the closure of airspace over Ukraine, which overloads the space over other European countries. And although, as noted Financial TimesHowever, the scale of the shortage of dispatchers is now not as significant as during the pandemic, it can take a lot of time to solve the problem, with all the ensuing consequences for the passenger air travel industry.

The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA) estimates that there is a shortage of 700-1000 controllers in Europe.

As the federation’s executive vice president for the European region, Frederic Delo, notes, this is largely due to cuts and the suspension of hiring of new employees during the pandemic, which were preceded by decades of underinvestment in the industry. The training of new air traffic controllers, according to Mr. Delo, will take 2-3 years, but it should also be taken into account that during this time some of the air traffic controllers currently working will retire.

In the US, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 70% of flight delays are weather-related. The lack of dispatchers has led to delays of only 3% of flights this year. Last year this figure was 12%. Overall, from 2012 to 2022, the number of certified air traffic controllers in the US decreased by 9%. To make up for the shortfall, the FAA plans to hire 1,500 air traffic controllers this year and another 1,800 in 2024. But, for example, the trade union National Association of Air Traffic Controllers is sure that the department underestimates the scale of the deficit. She estimates that 14,600 certified controllers are needed, 2,600 more than the FAA plans.

Representatives of the air carriers themselves also believe that the air traffic control services need “a good recruitment plan for new employees.”

Such a plan, according to the head of Delta Air Lines Ed Bastian, the airlines had, which helped them cope with the consequences of the pandemic. As Mr. Bastian notes, the US should make the issue of increasing investment in aviation infrastructure a “national priority”. According to him, the FAA and air traffic controllers are “hardworking, but they lack people and investment,” and without this, nothing will work.

Alena Miklashevskaya