At a parliamentary committee hearing Wednesday, travel industry representatives said problems retaining certain workers, such as pilots and air traffic controllers, persist heading into the busy winter season. Air Line Pilots Association Canada president Tim Perry told MPs that airlines are not doing enough to retain pilots because they have resisted increasing their pay.
Pilots from other jurisdictions are fundamentally disconnected from their union and can undermine the collective bargaining process as a whole, said Perry. Canadian Air Traffic Control Association president Nick von Schoenberg told the committee there is a desperate shortage of air traffic controllers that has put unacceptable demands on workers because there are no longer enough controllers to meet requirements.
The air traffic controller shortage existed long before the pandemic and will not be addressed in time for next summer, said von Schoenberg, but may be mitigated with some creative solutions. Von Schoenberg said that the pace and strength of the recovery by the aviation sector has contributed to the shortage of air traffic controllers, which in turn is contributing to delays.