Cleared for the Future: The New ATC Value Chain. Attract, Recruit, Train and Retain. Insights from IFATCA Annual Meeting global panel:
A profession in transition
The panel discussion highlighted a shift in how the air traffic control profession is perceived. Visibility remains limited, while expectations from new generations are changing. Candidates today are looking for purpose, development, and long-term career opportunities, not just a role.
This calls for a repositioning of the profession as a dynamic, technology-supported career with real impact on global aviation.
Expanding the talent pipeline
As emphasized by Marc Damitz, robust and rigorous selection remains essential. At the same time, the panel acknowledged the need to evolve recruitment approaches, broadening candidate profiles, improving diversity, and enabling more individuals to succeed.
This creates a stronger link between recruitment and training, where success is increasingly defined by development, not only selection.
Training as the key enabler
A central theme across the discussion, was that training remains one of the constraints in the system, while also representing the greatest opportunity.
Long durations, high complexity, and capacity limitations continue to challenge the industry. Addressing this requires more flexible, scalable, and digitally enabled training approaches, with a stronger focus on individual progression. Anne Katherine Jensen highlighted the importance of training not being viewed as a standalone step, but as a key enabler of the entire value chain.
Retention starts during training
Retention was also widely recognized as an increasing challenge, shaped by changing expectations around career development, work-life balance, and engagement.
The discussion pointed to an important shift: retention is not only a downstream issue. It is influenced early, during training, through how professionals build competence, confidence, and connection to their role.
Moving forward
Across all perspectives, there was a shared recognition that the industry cannot address these challenges in isolation. Attracting, recruiting, training, and retaining talent must be approached as one integrated system.
As highlighted by multiple panelists, stronger collaboration across ANSPs, training providers, and industry stakeholders will be essential. Building a future-ready ATC workforce will require scalable, flexible, and forward-looking solutions.
At Entry Point North, we are committed to working closely with our partners and customers to develop training approaches that meet today’s needs while preparing for tomorrow’s demands. The future of aviation will depend not only on systems and technology, but on how we develop and support the people behind them.
Thank you again IFATCA for inviting us to the panel and giving us the opportunity to contribute to insights on how we train the most skilled and confident ATCO’s today and tomorrow.
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