ATC as a profession
Air Traffic Control is one of the most critical job and involves highest amounts of professionalism and caution. Up in the air pilot stays in contact with only an ATC. Any contingency that occurs tests the skills and ability of an ATC. So ATCs continuously go through rigorous training and keep themselves updated with all the new concepts and procedures. No need to mention anymore about the complexity and importance of the profession. So how much do ATcs earn and is their salary justifiable for the amount of workload and stress they take while working on channel. Let’s dive in.
ATC salary
Air Traffic Controllers’ salaries vary from unit to unit within an aerodrome and from aerodrome to aerodrome within a country and has a huge difference from one country to another.
Here is a rough figure if you quickly want to get an answer
UK: £140,000
US: $100,000
AUSTRALIA: $120,000
CHINA: ¥330,000
JAPAN: ¥5,750,000
DUBAI: AED 285,000
INDIA: INR 130,000
Let’s dive in
An air traffic controller usually gets a salary based on the number of ratings or licenses he has such as Tower rating, Approach rating, Area rating, and Radar ratings. These licenses or ratings vary from country to country based on their existing rules. An air traffic controller can have all the ratings and take the salary from all the different units that exist at that aerodrome.
So why not take all the ratings and take more salary? Here comes the tricky part. To get more ratings you need to train more and get the license to control a unit. This needs extensive study and practice not to mention the regulations involved to get a certain rating. Also, it takes many years to get certain ratings based on the training procedures and availability of training institutes in a country.
Even if one gets all licenses and ratings he should be working at an airport that has the ATC units to get the rating allowance. Some airports are small and don’t provide approach and area services and some do provide approach services but not area whereas some airports do not provide tower services as well. So an ATC’s salary varies from place to place based on his knowledge, place of posting, and country he is in.
Let’s not forget the amount of stress an ATC takes to get such a good salary and the ATC needs to be updated about all the information and day-to-day NOTAMs and procedures. He should constantly study and increase his knowledge.
It’s a tough and challenging job to do but one can really enjoy the job.
