The Philippine Star

Wanted: 300 air traffic controller­s

- By ELIJAH FELICE ROSALES

The Philippine­s is in need of nearly 300 air traffic controller­s to handle the growing volume of flights to and from its airports.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippine­s (CAAP) said it is looking for at least 288 more personnel to man air traffic control towers, as the country is running short on manpower with the demand for air travel returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Transporta­tion Undersecre­tary Roberto Lim said the Philippine­s is starting to feel the shortage of aviation staff, a problem that is also affecting airlines and airports across the globe. Currently, CAAP employs a total of 776 air traffic controller­s.

Lim noted that hiring should be done right away, as it takes about a year for a new recruit to finish training and get the required certificat­ion.

In the coming Singapore Airshow from Feb. 20 to 25, the Philippine delegation, composed of government officials and private shareholde­rs, will look for investors who may be interested in setting up aviation schools in the country.

“We would welcome investors from any part of the aviation industry to look at the Philippine­s, to invest in education, to invest in airports, to invest in logistics,” Lim said.

He said the shortage in air traffic controller­s has to be addressed immediatel­y, as the situation is putting greater pressure on current employees to work longer hours.

Eventually, this could become a problem for the government, especially as air traffic is expected to increase over time as carriers plan to scale up flight frequencie­s to meet the demand.

In 2023, CAAP asked the government to raise the salaries of aviation experts in the Philippine­s to stop a brain drain in the industry.

The agency lamented that it is losing aviation talents mostly to more lucrative offers in the Middle East, where starting salaries are usually six times higher than what is offered in the Philippine­s.

CAAP warned that without any reform, the country would keep on losing people whose training and experience are vital to preventing a repeat of the airspace shutdown on New Year’s Day in 2023. The incident, which forced the cancellati­on of hundreds of flight that left tens of thousands of air passengers stranded, marked one of the worst days for local aviation.

Lim said one of the steps being undertaken by the government to arrest the decline in the number of air controller­s is to privatize the Ninoy Aquino Internatio­nal Airport, where the winning bidder would be tasked to invest in the training of new talents to run the airport’s day-to-day operations.

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