DAVID LEARMONT / LONDON
The first effects of privatisation begin to show as NATS revises its business plan
Within three months of taking over part-ownership and control of the UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the Airline Group is announcing personnel cuts, delay of a major project, cancellation of a software contract and a headquarters move out of London.
Some of the changes result from a new management philosophy now the Airline Group has become the government's 46% partner in the new NATS public-private partnership. But others follow traffic reductions since 11 September.
The personnel cuts - 225 jobs - were due to take place over three years, but with NATS predicting traffic on the North Atlantic will take until 2003 to return to last summer's levels, they are now to be phased over 12 months.
Originally predicted to grow at 6% a year, traffic was 1% down in September and 2% by late October. NATS expects "significant traffic falls" when airline winter schedules come into effect, "particularly on the North Atlantic". The Airline Group's banks are believed to want it to rethink its investment plans.
NATS denies any pressure from the banks to ask the government for compensation, however. A revised business plan will be complete by year-end, says the Airline Group.
Meanwhile, the government has confirmed that work on the new Scottish air traffic control centre (ScATCC) is to be "re-phased", resulting in an unspecified delay. The original in-service date of 2007-8 could slip by up to 18 months, concedes NATS.
Lockheed Martin says it has just completed the installation of a new radar data-processing system at the existing Scottish ATCC which would enable that centre's life to be extended and, because it is a "modern, open system", it could even form the basis for the ScATCC.
The Airline Group has cancelled its contract with Lockheed Martin (which had already spent $71million) to adapt the software that it designed for the New En Route Centre (NERC) in Swanwick, southern England, for use in the ScATCC. It has re-issued an invitation to bid to Alenia Marconi, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Thales.
The Airline Group says it would favour a suitable off-the-shelf solution, but it would have to be compatible with NERC - still on track to go live in January - because of its contractual obligation to provide a two-centre system for the UK.
Source: Flight International
