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Jason Harfield, who has been with Airservices for 35 years, has reached the end of his contract and will leave on 8 June, with chief strategy and customer experience officer Peter Curran to serve as interim CEO while the air traffic control body undertakes a global search for his replacement.
In the latest Australian Aviation Network Overview for March 2024, Airservices Australia said that its “capacity constraints” affected only 1.3 per cent of flights for the month, with 4 per cent of ground delays and just 1 per cent of cancellations attributable to Airservices.
Civil Air members are voting until 1 May on whether to take protected industrial action, which may include work stoppages and bans on overtime and ATC training. The union says staffing levels are “critically low”, and has called out what it says is a “toxic” culture that shows little sign of improving.
The ballot, which closes on 1 May, was filed by ATC union Civil Air. If successful, protected industrial action could include bans on ATC training and overtime, as well as work stoppages of up to 24 hours, and comes amid accusations of understaffing and poor work/life balance.
Union Civil Air said it would apply to the Fair Work Commission to authorise a vote in a move that could potentially lead to huge delays and cancellations across airports nationwide.
Civil Military Air Traffic Management System (CMATS) has been installed at Airservices’ two major control centres in Melbourne and Brisbane, and will now face intensive testing of its operational capabilities, safety, and security following a successful initial Melbourne demonstration.
