Despite the dire consequences predicted for Europe’s economy if the euro actually comes unglued, or the monthly chaos that ensues at the U.S. Congress’s failure to reauthorize the FAA, nudging close to the brink of financial disaster can sometimes lead to an epiphany and a new way to consider an old problem. Consider, for example, a nation’s air traffic control system.

In 1996, “The government of Canada was faced with a large and continuing deficit,” Sid Kozlow, vice president and chief technology officer for Nav Canada, told AIN. “It was looking for a way to rid itself of things that cost money, like the air traffic control system.” Then Nav Canada assumed control of the ATC system from Transport Canada.

Britain has been singled out as one of the worst culprits by the EU as it tries introduce a single air traffic control system for Europe.

Pilots have complained that the current system makes it impossible for planes to fly the the shortest route between two airports.

Rather than flying at a constant speed, which is considered as the most fuel efficient way of operating, they are often instructed to slow down as they enter another country’s airspace.

Passengers are also suffering as a result, said Corneel Koster, Virgin Atlantic’s Operations Director

“There is no doubt that customer delays could be significantly reduced if single skies is implemented successfully.

The transport ministry punished an air traffic controller by cutting his salary by 10 percent for one month for nodding off while he was on duty at Naha airport and delaying flights as a result in September.
The 55-year-old traffic controller fell asleep and did not respond to calls from an incoming cargo plane and an outbound one in the early hours of Sept. 13, delaying both for up to 17 minutes, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said.
Meanwhile, the ministry also took disciplinary action against a 46-year-old official at the Tokyo air traffic control center who posted information about an unauthorized tour of the facility on the microblogging site Twitter and conducted one in July.

Peru’s air traffic controllers union announced it would be lifting the 72-hour strike, and said they would resume normal operations at 7pm on Friday.
The secretary general of the union, Alberto Pimentel, told local radio RPP the decision was made after aviation authorities agreed to resume negotiations on Monday.
Authorities agreed to resume negotiations, based on the union’s demand, which included increased pay, and reversing the decision to fire controllers who had participated during a previous strike.
Some flights were delayed on Thursday and Friday, but no major problems were reported during the first two days of the strike, said El Comercio.
On Thursday the government issued an emergency statement that authorized the hiring of foreign personal to work in the control towers and make up for the lack of air traffic controllers.

Peru’s air traffic controllers union has said it would launch a 72-hour strike, from December 22 until Christmas Eve.
“This strike is because the government is not giving due importance to the complaints filled by the controllers", stated Alberto Pimentel, secretary of the air traffic controllers union.
The announcement comes one week after the union’s 48-hour strike, which delayed national flights coming into Jorge Chavez International Airport.
Local media sources warned passengers to expect delays on the days leading up to Christmas Eve.
The air traffic controllers are demanding overtime pay, nighttime pay, and establishing insurance in case of loss of licenses.
The union said plans were being made so that not all flights would be affected during the 4-day strike.

Cyprus looks set for flight chaos as air traffic controllers yesterday announced a 12-hour strike for tomorrow in protest at their inclusion in the government’s austerity measures.
The Cyprus Air Traffic Controllers Union (PASEEK) said air traffic controllers at Larnaca and Paphos airports would stage a 12-hour warning strike tomorrow, from 9am to 9pm, as a result of the expected vote by parliament to adopt austerity measures which do not include special provisions for them.
The union added that air traffic controllers at the Nicosia Area Control Centre responsible for the overseeing the Nicosia Flight Information Region will abstain from working overtime, likely to result in further delays.
It warned that measures may escalate according to developments.

Libya's air traffic controllers staged a strike on Tuesday that affected flights in the capital and other cities, forcing one passenger plane to be diverted shortly before landing, aviation officials said.
Libya has been trying to return to business as usual after a civil war that toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi. But security problems and chaos still disrupt transport.
 
Air traffic controllers walked off their jobs on Tuesday morning because they were unhappy about the appointment of new management, an aviation source said.
 
The strike affected airports in the capital Tripoli, the eastern city of Benghazi, and Sabha in the south. It was not clear how many flights overall were affected, but several international airlines fly into Libya daily.

Germany's state-owned air traffic control service Deutsche Flugischerung is planning a bid for a stake in its British counterpart, National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

British air traffic control, which made £106 million in profit last year, was part-privatised in 2001, despite fears that privatising the skies could jeopardise safety.

Last year, Chancellor George Osborne said in his emergency budget that the government was ready to sell its 49 per cent state in NATS - believed to be worth more than £500 million – to raise public funds.

A spokesman for Deutsche Flugsicherung, which manages military traffic as well as civil aircraft, told the Daily Mail: " We can confirm that DFS has expressed an interest in acquiring the 49 per cent stake. We believe there could be good cooperation between us and the operational side of the business appears to be good."

A deadly mix of pilot error and an air traffic controller's negligence has led a federal judge to order the United States to pay $4.4 million to the family of a wealthy Boca Raton businessman who crashed his private plane in bad weather six years ago.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined in 2007 that Michael Zinn, 52, lost control of his Cessna P337H while flying alone through, rather than around, stormy conditions.

Miami U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres, after presiding over a multi-day bench trial, ruled two weeks ago that Zinn was primarily — 60 percent — responsible for his own death, but that failures at Miami's Air Route Traffic Control Center also contributed significantly to the accident.

The top U.S. aviation safety official resigned on Tuesday over a drunken driving charge, leaving the Obama administration without a seasoned leader to oversee key legislative and policy initiatives.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement that he had accepted Federal Aviation Administration FAA.L chief Randy Babbitt's resignation one day after the case became public.
Babbitt, 65, was pulled over by police on Saturday night in suburban Virginia for driving on the wrong side of the road. He was charged with drunken driving and released, pending a February court appearance.
A former pilot and union official, Babbitt said he would not "let anything cast a shadow" over the FAA, but did not mention the arrest.