In our response to the impact the pandemic is having on the aviation industry, we have prioritised protecting operational jobs to ensure we have the capacity to manage traffic when it returns. However, the industry is not predicting a return to 2019 traffic levels until 2024 or even 2025, which means painful decisions cannot be avoided. 

Working in the safety critical world of air traffic control, NATS has a strong record in the provision of peer support (Critical Incident Stress Management – CISM) to colleagues across the business. As the number of flights across the UK has dropped dramatically, a lot of our employees have been put on furlough. With more spare time on our hands, we were honoured to be asked to assist the NHS fulfil their own employee support helpline and play our part.

Today is my first anniversary as a Business Management Support Coordinator Apprentice at NATS. I have developed an incredible amount over the last 12 months and feel really proud to be a part of the company.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is expecting 7.8 billion passengers to travel in 2036, nearly double the number in 2017. The biggest spike comes from the Asia Pacific region, which saw the highest air traffic growth of 9.6% last year, underscoring the tremendous growth of economies there.

To be completely honest, I didn’t really know this job existed until I came across it. I was teaching English in Japan for a few years, and then when I moved back to the UK I got involved with film directing. But I wanted a change of career, something that offered stability but was interesting […]

I’ve worked at NATS for 22 years now and have been an Air Traffic Controller for 19 of them! I trained for the first 3 years. I think in essence I’m still the same person that started all those years ago, and I still have the same passion for the job today as I did when I first “plugged in”.

Frequency Monitor Codes (FMCs) have now been in use in the UK for over 10 years and they’ve collected a range of names during that time such as Listening Squawks and Monitor Codes but they are all actually referring to the same thing.

Pilots are encouraged to use a FMC when they are flying outside controlled airspace, but close to controlled airspace boundaries, in order to increase situational awareness and help to combat infringements.

Jake Longstaff is proof that if you want something hard enough you should never give up.

We asked instructors Lee McGregor and Steve Blanchard what five qualities every controller needs to have.

Stuart Tabberer has gone from entertaining holidaymakers in Cyprus to managing aircraft at Bristol, proving that air traffic controllers can come from all walks of life.