Air Traffic Control Workforce Optimization

Today, Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) face lucrative opportunities and daunting challenges. On the one hand, air traffic control (ATC) is an industry with great growth potential: the planned liberalization of the European air space will open new opportunities and, more importantly, air traffic volume is increasing worldwide. Currently, there are more than 28 million flights annually and the number of passengers is rising daily.
 
On the other hand, Air Navigation Service Providers have never faced greater challenges. While air traffic volume is increasing worldwide, there is a controller shortage. As a result, more and more system restrictions are being put into place to counter the risks caused by controller burnout and fatigue. In addition, stiff security and safety levels must be consistently maintained.

Today efficient personnel utilization in the form of pro-active planning and workforce optimization is crucial to the success of all Air Navigation Service Providers. Air traffic control planning is a complex, dynamic process that must take many factors into account, including the skills and training certifications of individual controllers, union and government regulations, and employee preferences. Furthermore, any planning solution must be flexible enough to deal with frequent schedule changes. Now that this extreme complexity is exacerbated by the controller shortage, efficient workforce utilization has become absolutely critical.