Delayed passengers mount at Copenhagen Airport due to ATC shortage

About 1,500 passengers at Copenhagen Airport experienced delays in Sunday evening the insufficient number of air traffic controllers hampered the regular procedures at the hub. According to local aviation news, several flights were subject to 45-minute delays on Sunday evening, while airport representatives remained optimistic that delays wouldn’t be as long as they were on the previous days, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports. “A great deal of uncertainty, as every morning we know what we have to do in relation to the operations at Copenhagen Airport. We had a few dreadful days in the past weeks, but today (Sunday) will probably be better than expected, which is positive,” Copenhagen Airport traffic manager Kristoffer Plenge-Brandt said. The shortage of air traffic controllers occurred after Naviair was forced to cut off 45 out of 300 of its air traffic controllers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then, air traffic has bounced faster than expected, leaving the executives unable to meet the demand. The solution to this problem was calling in air traffic controllers to work extra shifts – leading to major conflict.<br/>