Passengers departing from Warsaw Chopin Airport should brace for possible delays. "Arrival delays are minor, whereas departures are delayed 15-30 minutes on average," Piotr Rudzki from Warsaw Chopin Airport press office told TVN24 on Monday. He added that "a vast majority of today's delays have been caused by air traffic control staff shortage". Negotiations between representatives of the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) and the Air Traffic Controllers' Trade Union were to be resumed on Monday.
Monday's flights from Warsaw to Milan, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf were delayed by 30 minutes. Passengers flying to Paris, Larnaca, Malmo, Doncaster, Zurich had to wait another hour to depart.
The situation looks better when it comes to arrivals. According to the Warsaw airport website, some flights were delayed 20-30 minutes, however most arrived on time.
"Delays resulting from air traffic control staff shortage have been continuing. Arrival delays are minor, whereas departures are delayed 15-30 minutes on average," Piotr Rudzki from Warsaw Chopin Airport press office told TVN24 on Monday.
Asked if the situation could improve in the coming hours, he said that it would depend on whether PANSA could end the crisis and restore the proper number of staff to the air traffic control tower. "a vast majority of today's delays have been caused by air traffic control staff shortage," Rudzki explained.
We reported on delayed flights at Warsaw Chopin Airport also in previous days.
According to Eurocontrol website, flights from Warsaw in the coming hours can be delayed by 45 minutes or more.
The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as Eurocontrol, is an international organisation working to achieve safe and seamless air traffic management across Europe. Founded in 1960, Eurocontrol currently has 41 member states and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Night breaks
The shortage of controllers led to a situtation in which, between 2:00 - 5:30 a.m. on Monday, not a single plane could land at Warsaw Chopin Airport. Same thing happened the previous night. "The Chopin airport is never closed. It operates 24/7 and the management hasn't decided to shut the airport down," Rudzki stressed.
He added that the night breaks were caused only by air traffic controllers shortage, which was clearly stated in the NOTAM notices.
A Notice to Airmen or Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM), is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.
No departures and arrivals are planned between 23:30 and 5:30 due to the "night silence" imposed in March of 2018. However, this does not mean that the shortage of controllers does not affect the airport, because delayed planes often land at night and the port also serves as a back-up location for many flights. Also humanitarian flights happen at night.
Conflict in PANSA
The conflict in the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency has been covered by tvn24.pl for a few months now. With the end of March, 44 persons quit jobs at the agency. Notice period of further 136 controllers will have ended by the end of April. If they actually leave, there will be only 36 out of 216 controllers left, which only one in six.
PANSA informed on Friday that it was "facing a challenge due to increased number of absent air traffic controllers". The agency said many of the employees had been on sick leaves or otherwise indisposed, and that it would take necessary action to ensure the workflow and stabilise the situation.
Furthermore, the agency informed that negotiations with the Air Traffic Controllers' Trade Union would be resumed on Monday.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN Biznes
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Shutterstock