Just two years ago, when flight restrictions were still in effect in half the world, Skyway – owned by Serveo, the infrastructure services firm of Portobello and Ferrovial – decided to open a training school for air traffic controllers in Catalonia. They already had a first headquarters in Madrid, inaugurated in 2018, but the high number of Catalan students and the absence of competition in the community encouraged them in the operation.
“It is an expensive training and if you add travel and accommodation to that, the cost for the student is much higher; So given the high demand from Catalonia, we decided to set up shop here as well,” says Francisco Martín, director of the training school and head of business development at Skyway. In this way they have become the only school for air traffic controllers in Catalan territory. Martín makes a positive assessment of these first two years. The airline crisis of the pandemic did not stop demand, he maintains. 52 students have already passed through its facilities at Sabadell airport, 25 of them in 2023. In total, the company has already trained 244 controllers, also including the Madrid school.
This has led to training activity becoming an important line of business for Skyway. The company invoiced 10.35 million euros in 2022, with a growth forecast of 20% for this year. The controller school contributes 2.6 million euros. The figure is notable if the number of students is taken into account, and the price of the courses is high given the teacher/student ratio and the resources necessary to train a controller. Only in Barcelona they have 22 teachers for 25 students and the courses cost between 27,500 euros and 57,500 euros depending on the specialty – they last between 6 and 10 months.
Money is not the only barrier to entry. To be accepted into any controller school, applicants must pass tests that evaluate their ability to concentrate, control stress and fatigue, or three-dimensional ability. A minimum level of English is also required and once the license is obtained, the future controller must pass a periodic medical examination. “We work with security, we cannot leave room for error,” says Martín from a room that simulates the control tower of the Alicante airport. Applicants must be over 18 years old and have a high school diploma or equivalent.
Apart from the training of controllers, the company manages the control towers of the airports of Sabadell, Alicante, Valencia, Ibiza, Murcia, Córdoba, Lleida and La Seu, the latter two of Aeroports de Catalunya.
