Union Seeks More Air Traffic Controllers

Jiji Press

11:36 JST, February 8, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The transport ministry’s labor union has demanded bigger allocations of air traffic controllers in the wake of a deadly collision between a Japan Airlines passenger jet and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport last month.

“Personnel allocations and other measures are insufficient,” the labor union said in an urgent request submitted to the chief of the ministry’s Civil Aviation Bureau on Tuesday.

“The workload per person keeps increasing as the number of aircraft handled by air traffic control grows,” an official of the union said at a press conference.