Europe’s increasingly competitive ATC training environment contributed to the decision by EUROCONTROL to move away from Basic ATCO training in 2012 and focus more on continuation training and new industry requirements. This coincided with separation by the European Commission of service provision from regulatory oversight, which led to the formation of National Supervisory Authorities by individual States. ALC was unique in offering training to these new entities, launching a completely new training programme for National Supervisory Authorities – the so-called NSA Training Initiative, and cementing the move away from providing services in direct competition with national training centres. ALC has continued to expand its portfolio, adding safety management, airport operations and drone pilot certification among other content in response to market change.
“We train in areas that are difficult to find elsewhere and with the support of EUROCONTROL expertise from other parts of the Agency, we can develop and maintain a unique offer. Whenever revenue is created, this is redistributed across EUROCONTROL Member States which enables us to reduce our overall cost base and therefore to increase our efficiency,” explains Rik Dermont.
Course instructors are responsible for specific subject areas and each trainer is encouraged to identify new subject areas in the training portfolio. “As part of EUROCONTROL, we are constantly in contact with our Network Manager colleagues in Brussels, but also the Innovation Hub in Brétigny. This helps us to recognise market opportunities and to be among the first to deliver relevant training.”
Commercial revenue grew further in 2016 when ALC began offering courses for non-Member States. “Providing this service supports harmonisation between Europe and the rest of the world,” adds Rik Dermont, where clients in Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific are keen to take advantage of European accredited courses and services. The centre is an ICAO TRAINAIRPLUS Corporate Partner and ISO 9001 certified – a qualification held by the rest of EUROCONTROL Network Manager Directorate.
Overseas activities include English language proficiency testing for air traffic controllers and flight crew. In the Middle East, ALC is the leading approved provider of English Language Proficiency testing for aviation. “Now our aim is to make this ELPAC service a standard for Europe. This would contribute to increased aviation safety and bring enormous efficiency gains for the aviation industry in Europe,” says Rik Dermont. The centre also provides the First European Air Traffic Controller Selection Tool (FEAST) service, a battery of online tests that help ANSPs to identify the most suitable candidates for the job of an air traffic controller. Both services, ELPAC and FEAST, have a very wide customer base, yield high customer satisfaction and are offered on a User Pays Principle basis at a global scale.
New initiatives in 2022 include a series of webinars on implementation of the Network Manager Strategy, starting in April. The aim is to support the activities of the Network Manager, explain what its objectives are and how these impact on network performance, safety, sustainability and resilience. It adds a new function to the training portfolio and represents a logical step following ALC’s integration into the NM Directorate in 2019. As NM evolves to deliver on its mandate, renewed by the Commission for the years 2020-2029, ensuring its roles and responsibilities are fully understood and supported is an important element of EUROCONTROL’s activity going forward.
ALC has succeeded in re-inventing itself in a very short space of time. It is firmly embedded in EUROCONTROL’s wider structure, and its activities in support of European aviation continue to grow. Optimistic for the future, Rik Dermont says: “We’ve done really well to reposition ourselves over the past five years,” he says. “But we need to start looking at what lies ahead and be ready for the next crisis.”