Flights are disrupted every year because of air traffic controllers, according to new figures

Staffing of air traffic controllers is an "important safety issue" and represents an increased risk to the traveling public, said one union.

Controllers arriving late for work interrupt an average of 5.6 flights per year, according to Airways data obtained by Herald under the law on official information.

The union representing the air traffic controllers, the New Zealand Airlines Pilots Association (NZALPA), said that these numbers reflected lingering concerns about the lack of personnel.

This comes after Police Minister Stuart Nash blamed a controller for calling him a "clown" for delaying work and delaying his flight.

"Air NZ Plane is still 20 minutes behind Napier, but for the second Monday in a row, it's because the air traffic controller arrived late for work," he tweeted in September. .

"Once again, a plane filled with bettors delayed because a clown slept in! Incredible and unacceptable."

Airways, which manages the air traffic system, said the delay was caused by the failure of an air traffic controller's car.

The new Airways statistics also indicate that the disease is responsible for about three disruptions of flights each year, with a total of nine flights disrupted since 2016.

During the same period, 17 flights were disrupted by delays.

There are approximately 350 controllers in the country spread across 21 sites, most of which are in the radar hubs of Christchurch and Auckland Oceanic.

Previously, Airways had announced a 99.8% service availability on the entire network, which includes 17 air traffic control towers.

"Any unexpected service decline is unfortunate," said Tim Boyle, General Manager of Airways.

"The level of service we provide on each of our sites is determined by legislation and is agreed with airlines and airports to balance security, operational requirements and schedules and service delivery costs. .

"In cases where our service is disrupted, airlines may continue to operate scheduled services safely in accordance with CAA approved emergency airspace procedures."

However, according to NZALPA, although some locations are better than others, staffing needs need to be reviewed to ensure that air traffic controllers have "sufficient resources and do not operate under the increasing pressure created by the lack of personnel. ".

"The data obtained (…) represents a widespread and persistent personnel problem that NZALPA is aware of is extremely frustrating for our members who work very hard and just want to provide a safe and reliable service," said a spokesperson.

"Our members, including our pilots, want the system's security to come before the profits, the government dividend and the repayments to airline customers."

Airways is exploring the possibility of using remote digital towers to control traffic in certain regional centers.

Central site controllers would be able to monitor aerodrome terrain through video and tracking systems.

The public company has already announced that the new Wellington tower would be one of the last major traditional towers it would build.

Boyle told Herald Airways is negotiating with a supplier to develop a digital tower at Invercargill and an "emergency solution" for Auckland.

"Digital towers would provide a higher level of resiliency and working from a centralized hub would facilitate the extension of services if we needed them," he said.

"Our primary motivation for implementing this technology is to improve security and mitigate concerns about disruption of services."