A more flexible approach to air traffic controller endorsements

Addressing air traffic control's capacity crunch requires more than just hiring additional controllers. According to the IFAV3 project, it also means ensuring that these controllers have the flexibility to work in multiple airspace sectors.

European air traffic is on the rebound, in some cases even surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

However, the same cannot be said about the number of employed air traffic controllers (ATCOs).

According to some sources, European air traffic control faces a shortage of between 700 and 1,000 controllers. Unfortunately, filling this gap is a bit more complicated than going out and hiring new controllers.

"Today's airspace is organised into control sectors, with each sector having its own specificities," says Michael Finke, a project coordinator at DLR, the German Aerospace Centre.

As Finke explains, to work in one sector, an air traffic controller must first hold a license and obtain a certification with a rating endorsement and a sector-specific unit endorsement. But before an ATCO can obtain such a unit endorsement, he or she must be trained on the sector to learn how to deal with local specificities.

"What this means is that not only do we need more air traffic controllers, we also need more air traffic controllers to have more unit endorsements for more airspace sectors, which - following today's processes - is a very time-consuming and very expensive process," he says.

This is where IFAV3 comes into play.

With a focus on flexibility, the SESAR -supported project aims to shorten the total training time for ATCO unit endorsements. "IFAV3 represents a new era in ATCO flexibility, reducing the barriers that prevent ATCOs from holding multiple unit endorsements in parallel, and providing the strategies, procedures and tools they need to quickly gain and maintain additional unit endorsements for different sectors or sector groups," adds Finke.

IFAV stands for Increased Flexibility of ATCO Validations.

Towards a more flexible ATCO deployment

The project has developed several solutions to promote a more flexible ATCO deployment. These include supporting tools that reduce the mental strain experienced by controllers when working in unfamiliar sectors, and methods for monitoring and predicting the required competencies for more flexible rostering. Researchers have also proposed more flexible unit endorsement sector groupings within a service unit.

Another key outcome of the project is the common unit competency scheme framework, a Europe-wide method for ensuring safety levels and calculating currency levels while also expanding the number of endorsed sectors for individual controllers.

The project is not only delivering a concept and solutions to support ATCO flexibility but progressing meticulously in the regulation aspect, continuously coordinating with the European Union aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to ensure a delivery of robust solutions that are aligned with the existing regulations.

"Each of these solutions are designed to allow ATCOs to obtain and maintain new unit endorsements more easily, or to extend the validity of one unit endorsement to a larger section of airspace," notes Finke.

The solutions also have the potential to reduce the significant costs currently spent on extensive ATCO training and on maintaining those endorsements.

Furthermore, the project is investigating the possibility of implementing IFAV into remote tower centres, with the ultimate goal being to reduce the effort required for an ATCO to get and stay endorsed on different small-sized airports.

"This solution has the potential to reduce training costs and increase ATCO productivity - all while maintaining aerodrome capacity, safety and performance," explains Finke.

IFAV a prerequisite to many ATM solutions

Beyond delivering innovative solutions, the project has put the spotlight on IFAV. "Our work is getting a lot of attention from the ATM community, who are increasingly realising that IFAV is the key to future proofing Europe's ATM system against the many challenges ahead," remarks Finke.

Now in its final year, the project expects to soon conduct validation activities across Europe. These will include a DLR-led campaign at the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre, as well as one in Spain being coordinated by project partner ENAIRE, amongst others.

"If successful, these validations will not only give ATM the flexibility it needs to rapidly adapt to changing demands, they will enable new ATM concepts, such as the virtual centre, that will simply not work without IFAV," concludes Finke.

You can learn more about the IFAV project on their official website and here.

Follow the project on LinkedIn.