John van Hoogstraten is the author of Reclaiming the Skies. In this episode, he discusses the book and the discussion it triggers online. John’s experience as an air traffic controller (ATCO), operations and safety manager, and consultant all over the globe gives him an interesting perspective. His current position as an independent consultant allows for a refreshing, free tone of speech.
The book starts with a razor-sharp analysis of how airlines imposed schedules on air traffic control (ATC) and how changes following the liberalisation phase pushed all actors into a race where each was focused on different achievements:
- Airlines for on-time performance
- Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) for capacity
- Airports for runway throughput
The second part of the book focuses on solutions. According to “Reclaiming the skies”, what ATC needs is predictability, rather than last-minute actions to handle demand. The key to bringing predictability to ATC is to establish ownership of the trajectories – including the timing aspects. It introduces concepts like Airline Flight Optimisation System (AFOS) and the SmartSlot tool by Shift Aviation Solutions.
