A few days ago, the Salzburg SPÖ boss David Egger started a political debate by informing the public about the centralization intentions of the air traffic control authority Austro Control. The reactions from the federal state airports were not long in coming. Above all, they see the safety of air traffic at risk. 

The corona crisis is also forcing the AC to act. Austro-Control managing director Valerie Hackl recently told the ORFthat new measures are currently being discussed. A possible scenario could also be the centralization of the state supervisory agency to Vienna. In this way, personnel costs could be saved in the long term - these are astronomical in any case.

But the price you have to pay for it is even higher, emphasize the chief air traffic controllers of the five major federal state airports in Austria. Not only would important jobs be lost, but also the expertise required for this airport, they say. Especially in difficult weather conditions, pilots rely on the support of regional pilots with precise local knowledge, says Kajetan Uriach from the Vida union: “It is important that the air traffic control specialists are anchored locally. You can assess situations faster and better than specialists from a distance - from Vienna via technical systems. So this centralization would be madness. "

Furthermore, there would be reasonable grounds to believe that centralization would cause additional damage to the environment. Because especially in busy months, the cooperation of the air traffic controllers on the tower, but also with the local partners at the airport itself is essential. This is the only way to ensure a safe, smooth and fast process. Experts fear that digitized centralization to Vienna will also result in longer planning and reaction times for controllers, longer approach routes and longer waiting times for jets on the ground. That would all be at the expense of the environment, especially since in such cases the engines are already running and burning fuel.

Austro-Control is still quite cautious. For this year, the air traffic control authority expects deep red numbers - a loss of at least 100 million euros must be expected.