Air Traffic Control (ATC) delays are not exclusive to the U.S. From the flight deck over last weekend, an Air Canada pilot expressed frustrations felt by many in a public address announcement to passengers about a 50-minute delay. While waiting for pushback for a Saturday flight from Vancouver to Montreal, the pilot blamed the delay on short staffing in the tower and at the radar screens.
A reporter was on board and recorded some of the pilot’s announcement. Quoted in a CBC report, the pilot said, “It’s very annoying. It’s cost [Air Canada] a lot of money. It costs business people a lot of money, and it would be great to have this addressed.” Accusing contract ATC provider Nav Canada of purposely bottlenecking training for new controllers to protect overtime payments, the pilot urged passengers to contact their representative members of Parliament (MPs) to address the issue.
In an official statement, Nav Canada confirmed that “resource constraints” had caused flight delays during the time of the Vancouver-Montreal flight but denied the pilot’s allegation of purposeful training shortfalls. A spokesperson said, “We currently have close to 500 students within our training programs today. By 2028, we expect the total number of students who will have entered the program to be approximately 1,500.”
The spokesperson further challenged that controller candidates were being culled unnecessarily, adding, “Prior to any decision being made to cease training for an individual, a multidisciplined panel evaluates opportunities to further support the candidate or to restream them to another program. We leave no stone unturned in supporting a candidate’s success.”
Nevertheless, the pilot urged his delayed passengers, “Please write your MP and let them know what’s going on and how it’s affecting your business or your leisure plans.”
Amazing! And to think there are those here in the US that want to use the Nav Canada system as a good example of privatized ATC!
As we possibly head towards privatization, here is a look at profits being the driving force.
Yeah, Reagan’s solution really fixed air traffic control in this country.
Technically, NOT privatized but independent of the government regulator, using a new type of entity under Canadian law. (No shares, just debt.)
Nav Canada is controlled by an assembly of organizations representing air carriers, pilots, …
Independence allowed investment in capacity and innovation in ways to handle flights.
Generally successful but something has gone wrong staffing. A Journalism Opportunity for Avweb.