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Inverness Airport- ongoing Air Traffic Control issues

Posted by (Lake District, England) on

For anyone thinking of using Inverness Airport there is an ongoing problem currently of short notice delays and cancellations of both inbound and outbound flights, due to a shortage of Air Traffic Controllers, and their requirements to take legal rest breaks.

Because Inverness is such a busy airport (not) such breaks are not being organised around the infrequent traffic, but are short notice and unadvertised.

This weekend the airport has merely put out a bland notice of possible affects, without stating which flights may be affected.

Posted by
11659 posts

Frank,
What you mean is that this is the first time the airport has put out an advance notice (or indeed any kind of notice). I've been keeping up with local reports, and this has been going on for weeks and months, in a totally unpredictable manner.

This is emphatically NOT the first time it has happened, and doubtless won't be the last.

Posted by
18884 posts

No, if you read the notice carefully, it is for this weekend only. There is no mention of the future or of an ongoing problem. It even says so in the first paragraph:

This will impact some flights from Friday 1 May through to Sunday 3 May inclusive.

Last minute changes to ATC can, and has happened, in many places for many reasons. I've seen my share both as a passenger and a pilot. If there were numerous cancellations or delays, there would have been more information in the news.

There are people on this board who may have a trip planned in three months and will start worrying. They shouldn't as this notice is for this weekend only.

Posted by
11659 posts

Frank,

Just because YOU are not aware of an ongoing issue doesn't mean there isn't one. As I say this is the first time the airport have put out a notice, possibly because of social media pressure.

I don't know why you are being obdurate, when I am trying to actually be helpful to people. I've been seeing this for quite a while, but because it has all been unannounced has either been in real time or after the event.

Posted by
1665 posts

Stuart (isn31c) is correct. There have been sporadic problems for weeks/months. There are staffing shortages as far as I understand it and obviously there are limits on the hours that air traffic controllers can work. I’m not quite sure why controllers’ breaks/shift change cannot be co-ordinated with incoming and outgoing flights. It’s fairly big news here.

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