Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Simon Wallace: Aviation Industry Association CEO on the concerns air traffic controllers are getting poached

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Simon Wallace: Aviation Industry Association CEO on the concerns air traffic controllers are getting poached · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Warnings that staff and shortages could spell big problems for
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  Speaker 1: our airlines. Our air traffic controllers can't start on the job,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, until they're twenty one, apparently getting poached
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  Speaker 1: off short places like the Middle East of big salary packages.
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  Speaker 1: Simon Wallace, Aviation Industry Association CEO with me this morning. Simon,
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  Speaker 1: good morning, Good morning Ryan. Who's poaching them and how
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  Speaker 1: much are they offering?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's obviously a growing number of services airlines rapidly
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  Speaker 2: expanding in the Middle East and South Asia, so that
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  Speaker 2: requires a need for a lot more air traffic controllers.
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  Speaker 2: So those are the countries that are taking our well
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  Speaker 2: qualified air traffic controllers at very competitive salaries, and we're
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  Speaker 2: talking to hundreds of thousands of dollars here, Ryans, So
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  Speaker 2: we can't compete on that here in New Zealand. So
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  Speaker 2: we've got to look at the conditions that we're offering
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  Speaker 2: around lifestyle, work, life, balance, all those sorts of other
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  Speaker 2: things to try and keep our air traffic controllers here.
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  Speaker 1: So what would your average air traffic controller be paid
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  Speaker 1: here and how much could they get there? Roughly?
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, after twelve to eighteen months training by airways,
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  Speaker 2: who train Our ear traffic controllers. Starting salary round is
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  Speaker 2: around about one hundred and ten to one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: fifteen k, so that's a pretty good, pretty good start
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  Speaker 2: out salary for a young person and it goes up
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  Speaker 2: from there. But you know, the Middle Eastern countries, you
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  Speaker 2: know UAU guitar, they are offering figures a lot more
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  Speaker 2: than that. Of course it varies according to which country
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  Speaker 2: they go to, but a lot more than that, as
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  Speaker 2: I say, in the hundreds of thousands of.
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  Speaker 1: Dollars, right, So we train them, then they punched them.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't we bond them.
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  Speaker 2: Look, that's something that I think that airways will be
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  Speaker 2: looking at. You would need to talk to them. They
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  Speaker 2: run the training. But you know, it is not just
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  Speaker 2: air traffic controllers that we've got a problem with. With
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  Speaker 2: aviation here in New Zealand and Ryan, we're incredibly short
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  Speaker 2: of aviation engineers, I guess, the less sexy part of
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  Speaker 2: the industry, and we're short of more the three hundred
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  Speaker 2: engineers out of a workforce of three thousand. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: we've got shortages of traffic controllers, engineers, pilots across all
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  Speaker 2: those vidal occupations in the system.
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  Speaker 1: Simon, is it true that you can't start in the
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  Speaker 1: job air traffic control until you're twenty one? And if so, why.
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  Speaker 2: That's a rule. Yeah, that is correct, and that's a
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  Speaker 2: rule that's set down by the Civil Aviation Authority under
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  Speaker 2: the licensing system. And I know that when are aways
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  Speaker 2: prepaid for the Select Committee last week, that's something that
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  Speaker 2: they want to get changed. So that requires a will
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  Speaker 2: and away from the regulator and others. But certainly one
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  Speaker 2: thing that needs to be looked at.
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  Speaker 1: Is that just because we think they're more responsible and
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  Speaker 1: reasonable and make better decisions that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that. I think that's a big part
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  Speaker 2: of it. Ryan at twenty one, that's the figure that's
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  Speaker 2: been put on it. But I think that needs to
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  Speaker 2: be looked at when we have this problem with our
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  Speaker 2: air traffic control being poached off.
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  Speaker 1: And Simon, just give us the overview here. How bad
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  Speaker 1: is the shortage of all of the aforementioned Is it
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  Speaker 1: going to mean that we can't fly one day or
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  Speaker 1: what does it mean?
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  Speaker 2: Well, engineers, is the real need right at the moment
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  Speaker 2: of a set three hundred short and that is causing
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  Speaker 2: problems through the whole system. Economic co operational thiss. You know
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  Speaker 2: you're seeing we're already seeing flights being delayed, but it's
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  Speaker 2: across what we call the whole general aviation system, which
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  Speaker 2: is agricultural aviation, contracting, emergency services. You know, when you
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  Speaker 2: can't get an engineer to fix a plane and safety
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  Speaker 2: is paramount, you know that plane is grounded and you
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  Speaker 2: can't operate or do those services. So this is an
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  Speaker 2: issue that has been looked at by this new Aviation
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  Speaker 2: Council and the action plan that was launched by James
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  Speaker 2: Meaga a couple of months ago. It's not just a
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  Speaker 2: white paper. It's got some clear actions in there with
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  Speaker 2: workforce fronts and centers. So you know there's some work
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  Speaker 2: being done with between industry and government and that's that's
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  Speaker 2: coming to the fore in a few weeks time.
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  Speaker 1: Simon preciate your time this morning. That Simon Wallace, Aviation
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  Speaker 1: Industry Associations CEO for more.
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  Speaker 2: From Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
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  Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks at B from five a m.
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  Speaker 2: Weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.