Air Traffic Control in Istanbul

Living in Asia and working in Europe! It's such an exciting thing.

In Istanbul air traffic is like the car traffic: congestion, traffic jams, endless queues. It can take an Air Traffic Controller 1-1½ hours to get to and from work. Planes have to wait 30 minutes or more to land in the summer and we don't have enough area to vector the air traffic.
This, combined with long working shifts puts a lot of pressure on overworked ATCs.

The main problems for Turkish Air Traffic Control are the outdated radar system and the number of under-qualified controllers (often older staff awaiting retirement). These factors put an even bigger workload on the younger controllers.

Recently Turkish airlines have been privatised and an increase in the number of operators and flights means that the working conditions of ATCs has worsened.

One solution we recommend is the privatisation of Turkish ATC:
1. Turkish ATC will then be able to recruit more staff by bypassing the existing bureaucracy ;
2. Salaries can be restructured with professional salary scales matching qualifications rather than Civil Service rank;
3. More investment needs to be put into social activities for ATCs during their free time. Turkish ATC is understaffed and the staff are overworked in what can be a very stressful environment.
A privatised ATC will have a lot more freedom to tackle these issues.
ESREF, TUNC & BILAL
The Turkish Team