The privatization of the only two control towers of the Canary Islands airports that remain in the hands of the public company is being debated in the Archipelago and has generated the rejection of several sectors of society. On the occasion of this announcement, the general director of Saerco, the company that manages the tower of the Lanzarote Airport and four other islands, Jorge Ávila, has answered the questions of La Voz de Lanzarote during his visit to the island.
Saerco is an air navigation service provider and manages five of the seven towers located in all the aerodromes of the Archipelago, except for Gran Canaria and Tenerife, which are controlled by the public company Enaire.
In the particular case of Lanzarote, the most visited airport of those controlled by this company, has been managing it for ten years. In it, the company provides information and control service.
"An air controller is in charge of directing and monitoring the traffic of aircraft in the airport and the airspace of its responsibility in a fluid and safe way, giving the necessary authorizations and information", explains Jorge Ávila. In the case of Lanzarote, there are a total of 12 controllers who are in charge of controlling the movement of aircraft and vehicles, avoiding conflicts, guaranteeing the fluidity and safety of operations.
Now that the privatization of the towers of Tenerife and Gran Canaria is being debated, what advantages does it have compared to public management? For Jorge Ávila, the fact that the airport towers pass to the private market "is not privatization as such, it is liberalization, opening the sector to market conditions. These tenders, which would affect Tenerife South, Tenerife North or Gran Canaria, would allow tenders from private or public suppliers, whether Spanish or European, to be submitted, as long as you have that certification, anyone could submit", specifies the general director.
Regarding the privatization of these towers, the general director points out that "it is a trend marked by Europe, that the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) in 2018 already reported that this should continue and it is a bit what we all collect as well, that in the end is good".
The manager assures that "competition in general has benefits. From the economic point of view there may be a cost saving and also at a technical level, because suppliers have to offer the greatest benefits in terms of punctuality, changing services, etcetera".
In this sense, he explains that Saerco's contracts with Aena have "a fixed monthly amount depending on how the contract has been awarded and it is true that there are times when there are clauses. For example, a very large change of schedule in an airport. Sometimes they include clauses that change the conditions if they occur upwards or downwards".
In the case of the months with more travelers, "these fixed amounts do not vary. They are contracts, with a certain amount for a certain number of years and there is no variation month by month so to speak. Our income does not depend on the demand for traffic in general.
What are the working conditions of Saerco's workers?
The general director of Saerco explains to La Voz that within the working conditions, "the breaks are adapted to the regulations and to what is marked by the law. We must take into account that we organize the schedules of the month according to these regulations, but we do not only stick to these rules, but there is a wide margin and we have many more days off. The controllers do not reach the maximum hours established by these regulations. We try to have the best possible conditions of course", he assures.
Jorge Ávila narrates that the requirements of the training of the controllers changed "a decade ago". According to his explanation, before a controller "had to receive all the complete training of the control service, approach and route blocks". Formerly the controllers received complete training of the whole cycle, "nowadays as it is done a more efficient way in which they receive only the training of the service to be provided".
Also, to be an air controller it is not necessary to have previous studies beyond "a good level of English". But tests are carried out that are called FIFT, which is the control that marks the standards, "the innate capacities that a controller has to have to work as such".
The head of the company that manages the control towers of Lanzarote assures that in the island of the volcanoes "all the controllers have the training of aerodrome control, which is a course that starts that lasts about seven or eight months and that in our case we have our own school where we impart this training".
The salaries of the workers
In the case of the public company Enaire, the controllers with seniority prior to February 2010 who work in this entity earn on average 200,000 thousand euros gross per year, according to the Collective Agreement of Control. However, in the case of Saerco it is 45,000 euros per year.
At the beginning of this year, the Trade Union of Air Controllers (USCA) called a partial strike in the privatized towers, including those of Lanzarote to request a salary increase.
The salaried staff of Saerco is paid according to the private agreement that governs their salaries. "There is no distinction, it is the same in all the airports" of private management, adds Jorge Ávila. "The older you are, the more years you have, the more you earn, according to a system we have, I automatically raise your salary more than 10% every three years systematically", he indicates.
"It is curious that the negotiators of the union that negotiate on behalf of our workers their salaries are higher than the profit of all last year", reflects Jorge Ávila.
People who work in towers managed by public companies and then become private, can go to another tower of their company or be hired by Saerco negotiating the salary. "When it passes into the hands of Saerco there is no rule on applying the salaries. It is studied case by case, the salaries are also negotiated, no, although they start from that agreement, because there are people who normally remain", concludes Jorge Ávila.
