February 10 was a day many in Belgium will remember for a long time. Most of the populace for the longest ever traffic jams, 950 kilometers in total, caused by early morning snow bringing chaos to the motorways. For a select few, February 10 will mark CANAC2’s going into live operations. CANAC is Belgium’s cutting edge air traffic control system and its most recent incarnation, representing a 60 million euro investment, puts a host of new, even more advanced functions at Belgian controllers’ fingertips. Surely a cause to celebrate…
But this is not what a number of protesters thought, picketing Belgocontrol’s entrance with slogans that read: “No SABENA bis, no time to celebrate”. What is going on?
That Europe’s air traffic management infrastructure needs overhaul is not a secret any more. What a lot of people do not like to hear is the fact that rationalizing the current set-up will in all likelihood lead to the reduction of the number of control centers of which there is an abundance in Europe. The protesters clearly thought that their future was far from sure, hence the comparison with SABENA, the once famous Belgian airline that went bankrupt a few years ago.
Mr. Jean-Claud Tintin, Belgocontrol’s director went on national television to reassure everyone that the 60 million euro investment and modern technology CANAC2 represents will now assure CANAC’s long-term survival.
Well, for the sake of the aviation industry in Europe, I sincerely hope that Mr. Tintin is both right and wrong.
If CANAC’s survival is assured by simply being modern and having just received an investment of 60 million euro then the future is like the past and the European Commission’s efforts to rationalize the aviation infrastructure will have failed.
So should CANAC survive? Well, should AAA in Amsterdam survive? Or the ATC system in Budapest? Or Langen in Germany for that matter… The decision on which centers remain and which not should not be political. In the first instance the decision must reflect what the industry needs for a safe, efficient and sustainable air traffic management system, no less and no more. The implementation of the decision must of course happen in a way that softens the impact for the people involved and they must be given viable options for pursuing their careers. But the same people must also contribute in the form of flexibility and healthy mobility.
Although unions will have a lot of difficulties in convincing their members that supporting inevitable change is also in their interest, they should do so and the earlier the better. A healthy air transport industry is in the interest of air traffic controllers also. Their equipment, their salaries are all financed by the airspace users and a too expensive system killing the growth of the industry inevitably damages their employers’ cash flow also and raising user charges has its limits too.
So, will CANAC survive? Let’s hope so. But if it does, it should be because they can and will provide the best service at the best price for a chunk of airspace that is a tad larger than Belgium…