An anonymous, concerned air traffic controller from Antigua and Barbuda has issued an urgent open letter to national authorities, warning that flawed leadership appointments at the country’s Air Traffic Services (ATS) could put aviation safety and long-term airspace management at irreversible risk, and demanding immediate, transparent oversight before any final personnel decisions are made.
Unlike routine government administrative departments, ATS is an extremely specialized, safety-critical operation, where competent leadership depends on a rare combination of technical proficiency, hands-on operational experience, sound risk judgment, and institutional knowledge that can only be built over years of frontline work. The letter’s author argues that decisions about ATS senior leadership must be rooted in a full understanding of the unique complexity of air traffic management and the life-or-death responsibilities that come with the role.
The core concern raised is that the key decision-making bodies involved—including the Public Service Commission and relevant Permanent Secretaries—may not be receiving a complete, objective evaluation of candidates’ technical skills, hands-on experience, and actual contributions to the national aviation sector. While academic credentials are not dismissed as unimportant, the letter emphasizes that a degree or certification alone cannot demonstrate a candidate’s ability to lead a complex air navigation operation. Effective ATS leadership, the author argues, must be judged on proven practical capabilities: hands-on technical skill, deep operational knowledge, understanding of international and regional aviation regulations, extensive training experience, decades of institutional knowledge, and a proven track record of delivering complex aviation projects.
To illustrate this point, the author outlines the kind of hands-on experience that cannot be captured on a resume or academic transcript. This includes years of experience training new air traffic controllers, drafting and refining operational procedures, contributing to the development of national drone regulations, coordinating cross-border work on the country’s major RADAR modernization project with Trinidadian partners, updating national overflight regulations, building a national ATC simulator and developing training and competency assessment exercises for it, drafting specialized operational procedures for the airspace around Barbuda, and supporting the rollout of the Aerodrome Flight Information Service on Barbuda.
Beyond national work, the author notes that any candidate who has built enough regional expertise to provide technical support on air traffic control issues outside Antigua and Barbuda, and to serve as an air navigation services inspector for the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA), has demonstrated a level of proficiency that must be weighted heavily in any objective suitability assessment.
Against this backdrop, the author stresses that ATS senior appointments must never be determined by personal connections, bureaucratic favoritism, or nepotism. The only non-negotiable criteria for selection must be aviation safety, proven competence, hands-on technical experience, professional integrity, and the overall national interest.
Antigua and Barbuda has already made substantial public investments in growing its aviation sector, from RADAR infrastructure modernization and improved airspace management to expanding controller training programs, regulating the fast-growing drone sector, maintaining regulatory compliance, and expanding aviation services on Barbuda. All of these initiatives depend entirely on knowledgeable, experienced leadership to deliver results, the letter argues.
The country cannot afford to dismiss or undervalue the decades of accumulated institutional and technical knowledge that long-serving aviation professionals have built up, the author adds. This is not a campaign to secure a position for any single individual, but a broader push to protect the integrity of the entire Air Traffic Services system, and to ensure that anyone entrusted with ATS leadership has the depth of knowledge and hands-on experience the role demands.
In closing, the author respectfully calls on all relevant authorities to ensure that any decisions affecting ATS leadership and the future of the country’s airspace management are fully transparent, professionally justifiable, and based on verifiable documented competence, hands-on experience, and a primary commitment to protecting aviation safety. In aviation, the author warns, it is reckless to wait for a preventable incident to occur before questioning whether the right leadership decisions were made. The only responsible time to secure aviation safety is before an accident or incident ever happens.