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Simon Parry

As senior expatriate staff depart, local recruits' training will be fast-tracked

Hong Kong is facing a potential shortage of senior air-traffic controllers,  and officials are looking to fast-track the promotion of junior controllers to tackle the problem.

The shortfall is looming as flights in and out of Chek Lap Kok reach record highs of up to  746 a day. The average is now 630 a day, compared to less than 500 at the former Kai Tak airport.

Sixty of the 220 air-traffic controllers working at Chek Lap Kok are expected to leave in the next 10 years, many of them senior controllers recruited from overseas two years before the airport  opened.

Only 10 new air-traffic controllers are recruited every year and it takes four years for them to complete training and up to seven years before they are ready to take a position as radar controller.

Civil Aviation Department director-general Norman Lo Shung-man  said yesterday his department was aware of the problem and had launched a review of training policy to see if controllers could rise to senior positions more quickly.

Of the 90 overseas controllers recruited to bolster the air-traffic control team before the airport moved from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok, about 60 remain and many more are expected to leave over the next few years.

Budget cuts mean the  pool of air-traffic controllers is unlikely to be increased in the short term. Recruiting more officers from overseas is not considered a viable option, as they take up to a year to retrain to work in a new airport environment.

One worried air-traffic controller wrote to the South China Morning Post, saying: 'Present training is not sufficient to replace people retiring and expatriates resigning. Among the few expats remaining, even more intend to resign in 2004-2005 because of the budget cuts.

'As the government continues to cut benefits, more expatriates will leave and the local staff alone won't be able to handle the increasing number of flights.'

'Even if we bring in controllers from outside, we have to train them,' he said.  'In the long run, it is more cost-effective to train up local controllers.'

Acting Assistant Director-General of  Civil Aviation Anthony Tam Lai-hon  said the department was closely monitoring the situation regarding senior controllers.

'We need a long-term strategy,' he said. However, he added that despite the recent round of civil service pay cuts Hong Kong remained an attractive place to work with its low tax rate, fringe benefits and end-of-contract gratuity.

Mr Lo, who took over as director-general  in April, said he  wanted to try to interest more young  people in working as air-traffic controllers. Junior staff earn $13,000 to $17,000 a month while radio controllers earn $27,000 to $47,000.



HK faces shortage of air-traffic controllers