Charles Alcock is managing editor of the AIN Media Group, having rejoined the company in 2019. He has been an aviation journalist since 1986, and previously worked for AIN from 1990 to 2017, most recently as editor-in-chief. His main focus is on covering new aviation technology and business models, as well as international news.
Having been raised in the London area, Alcock studied at the University of Manchester in the UK and earned an honors degree in Politics and Modern History. He speaks English and French, and some German.

Managing Editor

Charles Alcock

Air navigation service providers (ANSPs) around the world still struggle to recruit, train, and retain air traffic controllers as staffing levels still have not recovered from Covid-era layoffs and retirements. In the U.S. alone, the FAA needs to fill about 3,000 vacancies in a situation that appears to mirror the pilot shortage.
Aviation training group CAE offers to remedy the challenge through its new Air Traffic Services (ATS) program, which will launch in October with NavCanada. Between then and the end of 2028, the Montreal-based company expects to prepare more than 500 students in a process beginning with between three and six months of initial training before their assignment to on-the-job training positions at NavCanada facilities around the country.
“One of the things we think we can bring to this situation is our global footprint and the access we have to a talent pool,” Marie-Christine Cloutier, CAE’s vice president of civil strategy for performance, strategy and marketing, told AIN. “We are looking to form partnerships with ANSPs and help them to be more efficient to ramp up [staffing levels] quickly. There is a lot of competition [for recruits] and this is a very demanding job.”
The ATS training offering can adjust to meet the specific needs of each ANSP, which might include recruiting instructors. In some cases, recruits from one part of the world could serve roles in another region.
NavCanada has been investing in its recruitment process, expanding its presence at trade shows and student fairs. It uses questionnaires to assess the potential of prospective candidates who likely have little or no exposure to aviation. “They tend to be very cerebral and scenario-based in how they think,” Cloutier explained. “We need very calm people.”
CAE provides classroom training and devices to simulate a control tower with a 180-degree view of aircraft operations, with elements such as weather presented to students. “We need to make it interesting and we’re also trying to make the process more efficient because currently there is a high rate of remedial training needed for students who don’t pass [the course] the first time,” Cloutier said. “We want the pass rate to increase and we’re looking at different things we could apply.”
The company already uses a tool called CAE Rise for grading students and provides analysis of training data to identify areas where changes might be needed to improve outcomes.

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