So, the Ministry of the Blue Economy and the Department of Civil Aviation had to activate their contingency plans to ensure that there was no disruption of air traffic, when a number of their air traffic controllers were suddenly unavailable. We don't need to underscore how critical these folks are to air safety - it's the definition of "essential service."
Today, the Minister of the Blue Economy and the Acting Director of Civil Aviation held a ZOOM press conference to make it clear that there was never any air hazard because of the contingency plan in place:
Hon. Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy and Civil Aviation
"There was an attempt to disrupt air traffic services at the PGIA, I can report that services were not interrupted and flights continue to arrive and depart as scheduled. Our team are fully aware of the impending threat of such actions, as we understand that some of the staff are members or a sympathetic to the calls of the unions. That is their right and their prerogative, but as the ministry of civil aviation it is our responsibility to ensure that these essential services remain uninterrupted and safe."
Nigel Carter, Director, Civil Aviation Department
"The air traffic control officers inform that they would be proceeding on strike. At approximately 11:55pm the air traffic control officers from the approach control center inform that they would be proceeding on strike. A few moments afterwards at approximately 12:03 the air nautical management unit informed that they will be proceeding on strike. Several of the staff from the air traffic control tower informed as well that they would be proceeding on strike. What we must commend is the manner in which the air traffic controllers manage the situation, the staff, even though they proceeded on strike, sufficient staff remained in place to ensure that all aircraft that were inside of Belize's air space either landed safely or exited Belizean air space. Therefore, there were no disruption of services in that regard. At approximately 12:36pm we activated our contingency plan. This contingency plan ensured that the Central American Region Control Center would have insured that all enroute air traffic control services would be provided, notwithstanding we had staff at the air traffic control available to ensure that aircraft landed safely at the PGIA. At approximately 12:51pm we had sufficient staff in both the air traffic control approach center as well as the aerodrome control center to ensure that Belize had full control of all its air space. During the event I have to reiterate that there was no threat to safety during the event and there were no delays to any aircraft."
We also asked the Director to discuss the letters to the 4 air traffic controllers, which is the supposed source of this current dispute within his department. He made it clear that he wasn't willing to disclose details at this time:
Reporter
"Can you explain to us the nature of the contents of those letters?"
Nigel Carter, Director, Civil Aviation Department
"Unfortunately, that is not something we can discuss at the moment. It is an internal matter that we need to clear up within the government of Belize with the public services commission, with the ministry of the public service and the department of aviation."
Reporter
"The president of the PSU is calling it a witch-hunt, that is his word choice and the people who walked off today, he says are doing so in solidarity with the 4 that are facing potential sanctions and that is the reason why this spontaneous action was done."
Nigel Carter, Director, Civil Aviation Department
"Insofar as the contents of the correspondence, I can't speak to the content, I can assure you that in our opinion what we know about the situation we cannot characterized it as a witch-hunt any at all. First of all the procedure that is being undertaken ensures that, there is no penalties to any persons that has been issued these correspondence and that we move ahead. After the situation is investigated then the appropriate course of action would be taken, but I can assure you that whatever we do is with the interest of ensuring that the highest level of safety is maintained."
Reporter
"From the perspective of the PSU, you are trying to hide the reasons for these 4 persons not showing up to work on Saturday as some sort of union activity and that they feel that to be an unfair position. What are your thoughts on that?"
Nigel Carter, Director, Civil Aviation Department
"If I were to respond to that, that would be getting into the merits of the ongoing situation. So therefore I would not want to comment to much on that, but in so far as what the public union feels, it's their right to feel as such, that is some level of speculation on their side and they have the right to do as such. We will continue to look at the situation and whenever the situation is investigated, I must reiterate that there are no penalty actions against these persons that the investigation is looking at. We must continue to look at the situation and whenever it is addressed then the appropriate course of action will be taken."
Our records show that there was an Air Traffic Controllers Strike back in 2015. In that case the airport had to be closed to air traffic after Controllers called in sick. In that case, normal operation was restored in a few hours.
