Alex Bristol attributes recent malfunctions to technical innovations: Now Skyguide’s boss speaks out

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Alex Bristol, president of air traffic control company Skyguide, attributed the recent malfunctions to new technical innovations. As Bristol said in an interview, such events could never be ruled out at launch.

Bristol has repeatedly emphasized that safety is and is always guaranteed. In an interview with CH Media published on Thursday, the Skyguide boss said the accumulation of events could not be denied. He announced that an external investigation would be launched.

An internal investigation concluded that the incidents occurred independently of each other. There was a particularly long outage on October 30, 2023: Due to a technical problem with Skyguide, no flights could take off from Zurich in the afternoon.

Flight movements capacity decreased

In response to recent events, Skyguide has reduced the capacity of its flight movements in Zurich and Geneva from March to the beginning of June. Since there is no peak activity during this time, this additional buffer is not noticeable. Due to the summer high season, two software updates will be launched. “These will significantly increase stability,” Bristol said.

Skyguide’s boss said he should have focused on return systems earlier, knowing the frequency of failures. Skyguide is implementing its massive Virtual Hub project without a fallback system. With the project, the company wants to completely virtualize its system.

Bristol: “I expect the summer months of 2024 and 2025 to be very difficult”

Return systems are not provided in the regulation. Accordingly, very few air traffic control centers in Europe have such a system. “We will need to invest more here in the future,” Bristol said. Today, 65 million francs are spent annually on this. “I think at least 100 million francs will be required in the future,” he said. Further steps in this regard are still open.

Asked about the outlook for the aviation industry, Bristol was pessimistic: “I expect the summer months of 2024 and 2025 to be very challenging, at least in Europe and North America.”

The industry is still struggling with a shortage of qualified personnel. Traffic and demand will increase. But there are labor disputes in many places. Bristol therefore expected more strikes against airlines, other European air traffic control companies and ground handling companies. (SDA)

Source :Blick