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Expect Delays due to shortage of operational staff!
EUROCONTROL published their latest forecast for the European flight movements for 2021 – 2027. It foresees that recovery to 2019 traffic levels in Europe could occur as early as 2023, if not during summer 2022.
Provided this prediction is met or just nearly met, the Professional Staff Organisations (PSOs) expect that the travelling passenger will see delays exceeding the 2018/2019 levels, where record delays reached an average of 1,75 minutes per flight. In comparison, the EU wide target was 0,5 minutes per flight. Passengers’ experience over the European Network will be seriously degraded.
As the PSOs have highlighted several times, the focus of the Single European Sky (SES) has become based on a short-term vision: an overemphasis on short-term gains, especially on staffing costs, and gambling that technology and liberalisation will eventually solve all the problems and challenges of the future.
In addition, it chooses to sustain a financial mechanism that is wholly unfit for traffic fluctuations.
ATCEUC and ETF Statement on Fundamental Review of EUROCONTROL Agency’s activities by Deloitte
On the initiative of its Director General Mr Eamonn Brennan, EUROCONTROL commissioned a “fundamental review” of the Agency’s activities. The contract was awarded to Deloitte in September 2020 and a final report was published at the end of January.
Both ETF and ATCEUC agree that despite its ambitions, the review and its 17
recommendations appear nothing more than a collection of incoherent statements, without any in-depth analysis of their effectiveness, their impact or their cost. It is extremely surprising that Deloitte considered this report fit for publication: for one, it clearly goes well beyond the terms of reference, to the point of suggesting significant institutional changes to the Agency’s setup – something that was explicitly excluded from the scope of the review.
Charles - André Quesnel, Chair of the ETF ATM Committee, added: “The review makes vague,completely unsubstantiated projections of cost savings while clearly risking disruptions to service delivery of Maastricht UAC, Europe’s only cross-border ATC centre, and other essential services of the Agency such as training and research and development. Some recommendations will substantially increase the costs for the airspace users and Member States, as Mr Brennan appears to be prepared to drastically change the core mission of the Agency as an independent and neutral entity at the service of both the States and the airspace users.”
Volker Dick, President of ATCEUC, noted: “While the report is concerning in itself, we are extremely disturbed by the methodology, or more precisely the lack thereof, that Deloitte used. All stakeholders were asked different questions, and we have the distinct impression that staff representatives were only included to give an impression of objectivity. None of the
questions we were asked, and certainly none of the answers, are reflected in the report.”
Mr Dick continued: “The study is nothing more than a very obvious attempt from Mr Brennan to hollow-out the EUROCONTROL Agency and to push more things towards privatized subsidiaries of the larger ANSPs. The distress this review has caused within the Agency and beyond – the study recommends a privatized Maastricht UAC takes over the Karlsruhe
airspace – is considerable. Many of our members have expressed anxiety and concerns for their immediate future. In a safety-critical, operational environment and during a global health crisis of unseen proportions, it shows a complete lack of managerial responsibility for the well-being of the Agency’s staff!”
PSOs summary position paper on EC RP3 proposals on performance and charging regulation
The Commission has recently published a draft text for a new combined performance and charging regulation that will govern the SES Performance Scheme. It is anticipated that this regulation will be in place for RP3, that commences at the beginning of 2020. ETF together with the other staff associations, ATCEUC, IFATCA, IFASEA and IFAIMA have for the last year been inputting into various consultation forums as well as holding bilateral meetings with the European Commission to present the staff view and influence the drafting of the regulation.
On 29th May the Commission held a consultation workshop with Canso, Airspace users and Staff Associations together with members of the Single Sky Committee to gain initial feedback. This was supported with a presentation from the three stakeholder groups. The letter below summarises our main issues with the draft text, and these have been sent to the Commission and member state representatives.
The Commission took away much feedback from the meeting, and we will await the outcome of the Single Sky Committee meeting, and it is likely that a revised draft text will be produced in due course.ETF-Eurocontrol Safety and HF Conference
EUROCONTROL and the ETF held a joint Conference on "Safety and Human Performance" . (more…)
Slideshow
