An Air Canada pilot generated his frustrations about the shortage of air traffic controllers on a recent flight, telling passengers to write to their parliamentarians who address continuous delays in the country’s airports.
The pilot on a Vancouver-Montreal flight was aired on Saturday about the intercom, with a CBC reporter who captures a part of his message announcing a 50-minute delay.
In the message, he says that the air traffic controller sector, which is operated by the private company Nav Canada, had little personal, and the disease calls had meant that there was a control at the airport that day.
“It’s very annoying,” the pilot told passengers. “It has cost a lot of money to the company. It costs the people of business a lot of money and it would be great to have this addressed.”
Air Canada says that it has been affected by unexpected delays at Vancouver International Airport in recent weeks. The airport confirms that a shortage of air traffic controllers has caused delays and cancellations. As Jon Hernández reports, a pilot expressed his frustrations to a plane full of passengers on Saturday.
The pilot continues to accuse Nav Canada of keeping under the number of new apprentices to keep the numbers of overtime and asks passengers to tell their representatives about it.
“Please write to your MP and know what is happening and how you are affecting your business or your leisure plans,” he urged.
The frustration expressed by the pilot occurs just over a month after Nav Canada said that the “resources limitations” had led dozens of canceled or delayed flights.
An Air Canada spokesman confirmed in a statement that Nav Canada’s restrictions had affected the airline schedules at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) for several weeks.
A company spokesman denied that students were intentionally rejected as inappropriate to protect overtime, and said it is expanding training operations in response to the shortage of air traffic controllers.
An CEO of an airline and the pilot union say that the Labor Crunch is a national challenge that requires a wholesale effort to solve.
Small affected airlines
Tim Perry, president of the airline pilots association, says that if a passenger is frustrated with delays, it is natural that pilots will also.
He said that, however, the delays were not the fault of individual air traffic drivers, but rather a systemic problem.
“If we need more people at work, we direct our collective attention to do so,” he said.
“We really need to look to the future, work in collaboration with all interested parties,” Perry added. “That means government. That means work representatives, and means employers, to ensure that the whole system has appropriate staff.”
Teara Fraser, CEO of the indigenous property airline, Iskwew Air, operates short flights between YVR and Qualicum Beach on the island of Vancouver.
While the flights are very short, usually in a little less than half an hour, Fraser says that there have been delays every day on most flights, and the shortage of air traffic controllers was not “a new problem, but it is certainly getting worse.”
“We are receiving delays between 20 minutes and two hours,” he told CBC News. “When you operate a 20-25 minutes flight, that is significant.”
Fraser urged the federal government to properly finance airports, airlines and service providers.
Nav Canada cites training efforts
In a statement, a NAV Canada spokesman confirmed that the “resource limitations” required a temporary traffic management initiative on Saturday, which led to delays.
The spokesman said that the company is in the process of significantly expanding its training capacity throughout the country to meet the growing demand.
“We currently have about 500 students within our training programs today,” they said. “By 2028, we expect the total number of students who will have entered [Nav Canada’s] The training program will be approximately 1,500 “.
The spokesman denied the accusation of Air Canada’s pilot that air traffic controlle apprentices were being intentionally rejected to protect overtime.
“Before any decision is made to stop training for an individual, a multidisciplined panel evaluates opportunities to further support the candidate or to assume them to another program,” said the spokesman. “We do not leave stone without moving in supporting the success of a candidate.”
The spokesman said that about 40 licenses for air traffic controlle in Vancouver had been issued during the last year, something they called a clear sign of progress.
“Certain specialties in Vancouver present some of the most complex training environments in the country, due to the intricate structure of airspace and high traffic volumes,” they added.
“That said, our important investments and efforts in training and development are producing tangible results.”
