Chamber and committees

PE1804_TT Submission from Highlands & Islands Airports Ltd of 21 December 2021

PE1804/TT: Halt Highlands & Islands Airports Ltd’s Air Traffic Management Strategy

Thank you for your letter of 1 December requesting further information on HIAL’s Air Traffic Management Strategy (ATMS) on behalf of the Committee.

During the session on 17 November, MSPs Rhoda Grant and Liam McArthur made statements to the committee about HIAL’s ATMS project and timetable. We have taken the opportunity to provide an update and clarify any misunderstanding on the current discussions with Prospect that seek to identify a mutually agreeable solution for the modernisation of air traffic management at HIAL’s airports.

On 25 October, we agreed a framework for discussion with Prospect to establish a new way forward for the implementation of ATMS. As a result, Prospect agreed to suspend all industrial action while these talks continue.

Prospect and HIAL have agreed to work towards a framework that can help deliver a modern air traffic service and implement much-needed changes whilst considering feedback from our stakeholders, local communities and our air traffic colleagues.

Following the joint agreement, we established new ATMS working groups to help detail the benefits and risks of a potential way forward and invited our air traffic colleagues to join.

Twenty-seven air traffic colleagues, representing Sumburgh, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Inverness, Dundee, Benbecula and Wick John O’Groats airports volunteered to take part in the groups.

• Group 1 – Discuss the introduction of a surveillance programme across the HIAL network with surveillance services provided for Stornoway, Sumburgh, Kirkwall, Inverness, and Dundee airports from a combined surveillance centre in Inverness.

• Group 2 – Discuss the phasing out of procedural air traffic control services and the adoption of more modern and widely used techniques, practiced globally.

• Group 3 - It is proposed that air traffic services will be provided locally at Stornoway, Sumburgh, Kirkwall and Dundee. The focus for this group is the proposal that air traffic control for Inverness is provided remotely from the combined surveillance centre.

The first of these groups met on 6 December with meetings scheduled until the end of January 2022. Outcomes from the groups will help inform the next stage and provide an update for the HIAL Board and Prospect members in the New Year.

On 25 October we also contacted those companies involved in the remote tower procurement to confirm that the tender exercise had been cancelled. We considered it would be inappropriate and unfair to expect tenderers to remain engaged in the procurement in circumstances where the timescale for, and scope and extent of possible future remote air traffic provision is uncertain.

We have been clear that ATMS is our preferred option to maintain the long-term sustainability of air services for the Highlands and Islands. Nevertheless, we are committed to working with Prospect and our air traffic control colleagues to try and develop a new approach that will ensure a safe, resilient, modern air traffic operation, and that will require compromise by both sides.

Negotiating a compromise when the two sides are poles apart was always going to be a challenge. However, the pandemic and its effects on the airline industry, in addition to the results of the Islands Impact Assessment, have helped both Prospect and HIAL arrive at the current position.

We are dismayed that the subject of safety has once again been raised by Ms Grant. We cannot stress enough that safety is paramount. Aviation is one of the most tightly controlled and regulated industries in the world. In the UK, the CAA regulates and must approve all actions taken by HIAL and other airport operators. The CAA has been involved in ATMS since its infancy and has already written to the Petitions Committee confirming that it has no major safety concerns with the proposals presented by HIAL. The CAA has confirmed that there is very little within HIAL’s proposal that has not been deployed elsewhere. We would encourage the Committee and Ms Grant to contact them directly to seek and obtain further reassurance.

HIAL has not and will not introduce any system that reduces safety, and we refute, in the strongest possible terms, any suggestions that safety will be compromised as part of the programme.

We have provided the detail sought in your specific questions below:

Provide the Committee with an outline of the current plan regarding next steps for the ATMS project, including details of any alternative options to the ATMS project currently (or previously) under consideration:

HIAL and Prospect have agreed on the following framework for discussion to seek a mutually agreeable approach for the implementation of a modern and resilient air traffic management system:

• The introduction of a surveillance programme across the HIAL network with surveillance services provided for Stornoway, Sumburgh, Kirkwall, Inverness, and Dundee airports from a combined surveillance centre in Inverness.

• The phasing out of procedural air traffic control services and the adoption of more modern and widely used techniques, practiced globally.

• Air traffic services being provided locally at Stornoway, Sumburgh, Kirkwall and Dundee for the duration of the surveillance programme, with air traffic control for Inverness being provided remotely from the combined surveillance centre.

• A review of air traffic provision against a scope, agreed by HIAL and Prospect, to inform the next steps of the programme. The review to be undertaken at the end of the surveillance programme, or at five years, whichever is soonest.

Further separate talks will take place on air traffic services for Benbecula and Wick John O’Groats airports.

This is a considerable process and any proposals as a result of the discussions will have significant cost, regulatory and governance hurdles to overcome.

Provide information regarding buildings that have already been purchased on behalf of the project, including outlining what the financial implications might be should the remote towers proposal not proceed as planned:

The only building purchased as part of ATMS to date is New Century House in Inverness. This building is currently being used for training of the team who will be operating Sumburgh approach (surveillance).

Should the remote tower proposal not proceed as planned, the building could accommodate the surveillance operation for Stornoway, Sumburgh, Kirkwall, Inverness, and Dundee airports.

Explain how HIAL anticipate it might cover the cost of £30 million for the purchase of primary radar, that the CAA advises is necessary.

HIAL has had extensive discussions with the CAA and at no point has the CAA advised that the purchase of primary radar is necessary. The CAA has confirmed that the industry is moving towards a more cooperative surveillance. While there is still much to be done to introduce this into operation within HIAL, the CAA can see no obvious impediment to this type of surveillance being used in the future.

Again, we would encourage the committee to contact the CAA.

Finally, we do not recognise the figure of £30 million for the introduction of primary radar.

To summarise the current position, HIAL is currently reviewing the best long-term solution for its air traffic management. Alternative deployment methods are actively being considered but we will not take forward any proposals until discussions and workgroups with Prospect and our air traffic colleagues have concluded.

Once these are complete, a report will be sent to the HIAL Board for consideration. If a mutually acceptable solution has been agreed with Prospect a fiscal and regulatory assessment will play a key role in the formulation of a final agreement.

The five-year assessment and review period we have previously proposed would give us the time and scope to work with our colleagues and all relevant stakeholders.