Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Air traffic controllers are asking the government not to recast their employment status from professionals managed by a state enterprise to civil servants managed by a government office.
"To guarantee the quality of air traffic service, as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization, we are asking the government to let air traffic control continue to be managed as a state enterprise," Adri Gunawan, president of the Air Traffic Controllers Association (IATCA), said in a press conference at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Tuesday.
The association came out against the wholesale revision of the air transportation law now being deliberated which calls for placing air traffic control management under a public service office.
"If passed, the new bill will allow the government to function as both regulator and operator of air traffic service," Adri said.
That would mean air traffic operations would be dependent on the state's tight budget, he added.
"If air traffic control is administered as part of a public office, it will be part of the bureaucracy ... the degrading of the quality of our service would be inevitable."
IATCA is a professional organization established in 1999 by air traffic controllers. It currently has 1,271 members nationwide.
Adri said his association had not been involved in drafting the bill currently being deliberated by the government and the House of Representatives.
"The association was invited once to a House hearing on the revision plan, but nothing else after that. The draft bill needs a clearer formulation and better transparency."
The 1992 air transportation law comprises 14 chapters and 104 articles, while the newly proposed law is far more extensive with 26 chapters and 405 articles.
Susila, head of air traffic control at I Gusti Ngurah Ray International Airport in Denpasar, who attended the press conference, said rumors about the possible change to their employment status had spread among the employees.
"None of the air traffic controllers want to be civil servants because they are professionals," he said, adding that air traffic service could wind up someday being led by civil administrators with little understanding of air traffic control.
One IATCA member who declined to be identified said that, should the government insist on changing air traffic control management status from a state enterprise to a public office, air traffic controllers would likely strike.
"The government and the lawmakers should reconsider this.... Air traffic control has been doing a good job under state enterprise management," he said.
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