The Canadian Air Traffic Control Association (CATCA) is warning that staffing shortages, particularly at smaller airports, is threatening airspace safety and flight service. Nick von Schoenberg, Pacific regional vice-president for the union, says as post-pandemic air travel increases, and airlines reintroduce routes, the pressures on air controllers will only increase. "I don't want to scare people that are getting into airplanes," von Schoenberg said. "But there's a limit. You just can't keep pushing people that far, or that hard, for that long, without there being some implication on the level of safety." For example, von Schoenberg points to YLW, where air traffic controllers were forced to shut down early twice in 2021, where seven controllers are working instead of 10, which von Schoenburg believes is a better number. Von Schoenburg also says Nav Canada, the privately run non-profit corporation that owns and runs Canada's civil air navigation system, has reduced the number of air traffic controller shifts in Kelowna. In a statement to CBC News, Nav Canada's manager of media relations Brian Boudreau, said "procedures are in place to ensure the highest level of safety is always maintained across the air navigation system."
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