Tue May 21, 2019 3:11 pm
#1695069
In 1972, apart from Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness and Barra, all the HIAL airports listed were operated solely by NATS, who provided a single permanent controller who was also airport manager. Of the other 4, Campbeltown (aka Macrihanish) was RAF, Inverness was still operated by NATS but had 4 (I think) controllers one of whom was airport manager, Dundee was local authority with ATS provided by a contractor and Barra used to be A/G.
The CAA (from 1975) didn't like its ATS provider running airports so a separate company was created to run them but still with ATS provided by NATS, then this company was handed over to what is now HIAL who decided to employ its own controllers; I believe some controllers elected to transfer to HIAL.
I don't know how present salaries compare, but NATS has 5 salary 'bands' depending on the complexity of its operations at different locations so I would expect HIAL controller pay to be on par with NATS Band 1 pay at least; I won't quote locations where NATS Band 1 operates as having been retired for 10 years, these may have changed, but Farnborough was a Band 1 unit in 2008.
Pay policy however differs in that NATS controller salary increases are negotiated annually whereas HIAL controller salary increases are limited by the same government policy which has seen nurses, firemen etc getting pay increases well below inflation for many years.
By the way, you'll find that of the HIAL airports unaffected by the strike, Barra, Campbeltown, Islay and Tiree are AFIS whilst Wick is AFIS 'in emergency'.
There's only one 'F' in Fulham