Air traffic control changes will leave communities poorer and less safe
Prospect negotiator David Avery explains why plans to change air traffic control services on Scotland’s islands is a bad idea.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) plans to centralise your air traffic services into ‘remote towers’ in Inverness. This would involve closing air traffic control towers on the islands, and downgrading the air traffic service it provides to Benbecula and Wick.
At Prospect, we represent your air traffic controllers and for a number of reasons, we are strongly opposed to the plans. In short, they are deeply unfair to our members and will have a lasting negative impact on island communities.
HIAL’s proposals are worrying. It’s not just that services will be less safe but it will remove well-paid skilled jobs from local economies that can ill-afford to lose them. Prospect’s assessment is that £1.5m in direct employment will be removed from local economies as a direct result of these plans.
It is staggering that a government-owned company would propose this level of change without consulting the communities it serves. HIAL claims to have spoken to people about its plans but this is not the case. HIAL has spoken to people about the timeline for implementation but has not consulted on the content of the proposals.
The proposals also run contrary to the Scottish Government’s recently published National Plan for Scotland’s Islands like the lack of consultation and removal of good jobs.
Safety
There are several issues relating to the safety implications of operating remote towers, and to downgrading air traffic cover for Benbecula and Wick airports.
One of Prospect’s main concerns is that centralising services will introduce multiple single points of failure to what is an already complex system. This means that an error in any one of, for example, runway cameras, data connections, or at the centre itself will cause the whole system at an airport to fail.
Downgrading at Wick and Benbecula
The unilateral decision HIAL has taken to review air traffic control services at Wick and Benbecula with the intention of downgrading them is also of concern.
This would involve replacing the current system with an on-demand service simply offering pilots information about airfields and weather conditions. This doesn’t include monitoring flight paths and keeps aircraft out of each other’s way. Yes – if these plans are implemented, they would increase the chance of aircraft colliding.
This service downgrade will likely result in up to 10 redundancies across the two airfields, many of whom are long-term members of the communities they serve.
In favour of modernisation
Prospect and our members agree that modernisation of the system is needed. The introduction of radar surveillance and controlled airspace are positive steps, if implemented correctly.
However, we fundamentally disagree with the approach HIAL is taking, specifically the need to centralise these functions in Inverness. HIAL’s own research shows that it is easier and cheaper to deliver radar locally which would maintain jobs in the islands and remove the need for redundancies.
Your communities will be adversely affected if HIAL’s plans are implemented so it is vital that you have your say about the future of what is essentially a lifeline service.
HIAL is government-owned, so ministers have the power to change things. The government must open this whole process to consultation so you can have your input on what happens, to do otherwise would make a mockery of their own Islands Plan before it even gets off the ground.