IFATCA's Spotlight Podcast
In our new podcast, IFATCA Spotlight, we shine a light on IFATCA's Member Associations. A podcast made by ATCOs for ATCOs to provide insight into different challenges and solutions found around the world.
IFATCA's Spotlight Podcast
Spotlight Episode 23 - Iceland
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In this IFATCA Spotlight episode, host Torsten Raue speaks with Icelandic controllers Eygló and Mái about their member association FIF and Iceland's unique ATC environment. Both stumbled into the profession from computer science backgrounds. Iceland operates three controlled airports and manages one of the world's largest oceanic airspaces at 5.6 million square kilometers. Key challenges include extreme and rapidly changing weather at Keflavik, crossing runways, and increasing NATO military traffic. The episode also covers Iceland's strong CISM program, ongoing modernization projects including surface movement radar, and both controllers' ambitions to help shape the future of Icelandic aviation.
Coming today to you later contact five level 670 and very passing level.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to our podcast IFATCA Spotlight where we shine a light on a member association and find out what unique insights and expertise each member association brings to the IFATCA family. My name is Torsten, I'm from Germany, and in this episode it's my pleasure to shine a light on Iceland and the local member association FIF. Iceland is an island nation situated in the North Atlantic, lying just south of the Arctic Circle. Known as the land of fire and ice, it features a dramatic landscape of volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, and lava fields, while also hosting some of Europe's largest glaciers. And it has a population of almost 400,000 citizens. The official language is Icelandic. The time zone is UTC. But enough about dry facts. We want to know more straight from the source. And today our sources are Maui and Aiglo. Welcome to the podcast, you two. Thank you. Thank you. Uh let's start with you, Aiglo. How did you get into ATC?
SPEAKER_05My name is Aigleritz and I work as a natural controller in the Kepler Tower. I've been there since 2015. And actually I before I came to Nature Controller, I was studying computer science in the university. And I was always focusing on the plan B if the plan A wouldn't work out because I first got to know HTTP controlling when I was a kid because mother of one of my best friends uh was an HTTP controller and actually one day in the university I just woke up and I called her and she invited me to come to work and I came in and listened to in the center in the area and in the tower. And for me ATC was attracted because it was like safety critical, highly professional and operational. And you need both intuitive competence and strong teamwork and I just didn't have to think about it for long and just with profession and I I really love it.
SPEAKER_00And just to make sure, so air traffic controlling is your plan A now.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but of course, like you know, we progress and outside work I'm also studying leadership and strategy at the MPA, actually graduating now. And also I want to know have I'm quite interested in how aviation organization develops and how we manage change and how we prepare the profession for the future. So I wanna combine that.
SPEAKER_00It's great that you get the chance to study it and advance the profession. That's actually one of the core principles of IFATCA, which uh is really cool. Um how did you get to be an air traffic controller exactly? Where did you have to go to learn controlling?
SPEAKER_05From my perspective, uh I went to the Flight Academy of Iceland. I was actually the last class. So uh now you go to the basics and the aviance now, and from there you take the unit, and actually uh I was assigned to the area control at first, but then we went shifted and I went to the Caploide Tower and I finished there.
SPEAKER_00Great. Maui, let's switch to you. How did you get into ATC? What kind of letter would you assign to ATC in your case?
SPEAKER_02I was very undecided when I graduated from high school what what I wanted to be. Um since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a pilot and I used to ride my bike from my house to Reykjavik City Airport and watch the planes. So like Egglo after high school I went to computer science and and didn't stick there for long. And um a friend of mine who already had finished his rating in ACC, he rang me up and said there's an open day to introduce traffic control. And I really didn't know about this profession. So I got to visit the the center and and the tower and I saw okay, there's a chance for me to sit in what's planes and get paid for it instead of just riding my bike to the fence. Initially I finished the the um application process, uh, but I I didn't get to to start the basic training initially, so I finished all the admin stuff, but there was only eleven places to start with that were admitted, and I was one of three that were like put on hold, put on freeze. So I started off being uh an assistant in ACC for about nine months, and then I got admitted to start uh training in uh Kebloy Tower.
SPEAKER_00So when you say you were an assistant, that's uh a name that is being used all over the place in the ATC world. Would it the would that be an flight data assistant? So you take care of flight plans or what would it be?
SPEAKER_02Flight data specialist, basically, what they call it today, but back then it was called the assistant.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, thank you. So it was a great opportunity to learn the ropes, so to speak. So uh as as disappointed as I was not getting in initially, I actually thank the Almighty for this because it was a great uh base before studying the tower. And then after a year and a half in Kaploic Tower, I I went to Approach as well. I worked there for 13 years before going to the Middle East, where I spent another 13 years and then I came back in 2022 for approach only.
SPEAKER_05I skipped that part, but I was a flight assistant for one year in Caploic. And that's why, you know, because I st when I started uh to learning I'm in the ACC, I was gonna be there. But then because there wasn't gonna have anyone for Kaploic and then like last wind shifted and they're gonna we need two people. And the the reason why they took me was because I was w had been working then and was familiar to the environment. It actually like cut it the training for like one-third or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it helped. It's not a bad place to start. Cool. And I'm really happy that you're both my colleagues and uh we are talking now. But let's talk a little about the member association. What does FIF stand for, ECLO?
SPEAKER_05FIF is Feel Like Iceland's graplum for Stilla. It's our member association, or also called like Ice Atka in English. And it was founded in 1955, so it has a long history representing Icelandic air traffic controllers. And I will say in small aviation community like Iceland, uh association plays an important role both in representing controllers and in maintaining professional connections internationally.
SPEAKER_00Is it only an association or do you have a union connection as well?
SPEAKER_05Yes, it's a professional association association and a trade union. It works on professional matters, safety and the interests and rights of controllers, collective agreements and cooperation with uh international organizations such as IFATCA.
SPEAKER_00Cool. That's why we're talking and uh to get to know Iceland more. How many ATCOs does Iceland have? How many do you represent, Maui?
SPEAKER_02Uh we have about 160 members, of uh which are one-third is female and and two-thirds is male.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that's a pretty big number for bless you, Eklo.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_00You muted yourself before some situational awareness is key.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but uh like you said, it's uh like a high number compared to a small, you know, country, but not all of them work in operational uh position every day. Some of work at the Icelandic Transport Authority uh and others in management and training and school and procedures or development roles as myself also.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the ATC community is always small and uh they have to fill many jobs and many roles. But we get to why the number is still pretty high later on when you talk about the airspace that you control. But let's stay on the ground a little bit and stick with you, Egglo, because you're the expert. First of all, how many controlled airports does Iceland have?
SPEAKER_05We have three controlled airports with an ATC in Iceland. It's Kaplavik, Reykjavik, and Akurere. And Kaplavik is the main international airport. But in addition, Iceland has a network of regional scheduled airports and small smaller landing sites, which are very important for the domestic connectivity, medical transport and access to the remote parts of the country. Yeah, I think there is uh like a twelve airports or in addition, I think. I'm not quite sure.
SPEAKER_00Let's explain to the listeners a little. So Reykjavik would be the capital where the majority of uh Icelanders live. So you mentioned the main port would be Keflavik. How far is that away from the capital?
SPEAKER_05Uh 43 kilometers.
SPEAKER_00So pretty close.
SPEAKER_05Just a half an hour ride.
SPEAKER_00And you work at Keflavik, as you said, the main airport. So give us an overview about Keflavik. What kind of runways do you have? What's interesting about it?
SPEAKER_05The challenge, uh like also the combination of factors, but also that's the fun part. It's not only a traffic volume, we have like uh four runway, we have two crossing runways, so that can be, you know, uh factors. And first of all, it's like the weather, the runway conditions, the vehicles, snow removal, changing visibility constantly, and of course the traffic at the same time combined with military traffic. So the tower control is about keeping the whole airport picture together, which can change really quickly and rapidly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm looking at a bird's eye view of the airport. So you as you said you've got crossing one-rays, they look like 90 degrees angles. Do you have a main runway or is the wind coming from all over and you don't have a main direction?
SPEAKER_05Like really severe wind directions uh from the east, so we can yeah, but and mainly it's one nine and zero one, and then we have of course uh west and east, and we also have like an oceatement procedure. So when the winter, we prefer to use one nine or zero one.
SPEAKER_00So primary runway is basically one nine zero one. Right. Um interesting. Thank you so much, Egglo. Let's switch into the air, Maui. That's your expertise. Give us an overview about the airspace in Iceland. What kind of airspace classes do you have and where do you work specifically?
SPEAKER_02Iceland has uh one of I think it's the second or third largest oceanic airspaces in the world. It's uh I think 5.6 million square kilometers, and it uh ranges from the west coast of Norway all the way to east coast of Canada, and then from around 200 miles south of Iceland to the North Pole. So that might explain the number of controls we need for for oceanic uh controls.
SPEAKER_00Definitely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Majority of the oceanic airspace is class A, down to well, from flight level 5-5 up to unlimited, and then below that is class G. The tower CTRs are class D and then approach where I work. It's uh actually a combined approach for Keplovik International and then Reykjavik City, which is also an international airport. So the approach is split into uh class C and class D. And then uh below obviously we have class G uncontrolled.
SPEAKER_00Okay, thank you. Um sorry let's switch again a little because you mentioned it. So you've got the Reykjavik airport as well, in addition to the Keflavik, the main one. So and you're working both. So who's flying to Reykjavik itself?
SPEAKER_02So Reykjavik Airport is used for the domestic flights, um, and it's a regional airport. It handles a lot of the trainers as well. But it is an international airport, so we have a lot of the business jets coming in, uh the super rich salmon fishingmen, some ambulance flights, uh ferry flights, lots of VFA. But Ketravik is it's a hub for Iceland, there, so most of the international traffic goes through there. So I guess on average the traffic within the Reykjavik ACC is uh in the winter maybe 400 per day up to in the summer peak hours maybe over 700 per per day.
SPEAKER_00That's a huge number. Awesome. You're doing a good job, obviously.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. And Reykjavik ACC is also part of the NAT tracks. So the the North Atlantic tracks that uh go from Europe to the US.
SPEAKER_00Explain that a little to foreign listeners. What do you mean by NAT tracks?
SPEAKER_02So it's pre-designed tracks that are decided on each day depending on how the wind blows. Reykjavik ACC is part of that, as well as Shanwick and Gander, if I'm not mistaken. I might have to phone a friend for those uh No jokers here, sorry. But yeah, so depending on the wind, sometimes the tracks uh reach into the south part of uh Reykjavik ACC, so it gets quite busy. They work vice versa. They work from Europe to the states and then back.
SPEAKER_00How do you provide service over the ocean? Do you have surveillance? And if you do, what kind?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it's it's radar surveillance. There's actually uh five radars in Iceland, one in Faroe Islands and one in Shetlands. And in addition, we have I think it's twenty-four ADSB stations surveillance. So keeping, I think I'm not mistaken, all of it or most of the oceanic area under surveillance.
SPEAKER_00That's very reassuring. I love that we have surveillance now all over the place. You mentioned already the levels, so I know you control in feet. Yeah. And the language in ATC, AGLO, what do you speak on frequency?
SPEAKER_05We speak mainly English. Uh the only frequency we use in Kaplalic for Atlantic is the rap frequency from the tower, just to be like better situational awareness for the snow removal team. And but yeah, mainly in English always.
SPEAKER_00Cool. So ATC in English and uh snow removal, maybe you can speak a local language, perfect.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. We had tried before to combine it in English, but the situational awareness and keeping everything you know ongoing was way better and uh don't making we don't want to make room for a misunderstanding.
SPEAKER_00And speaking about language, who of you wants to pronounce air traffic controller in Icelandic?
SPEAKER_05I think Maui was gonna do that part.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I can do that. So air traffic controller in Icelandic is fluch um förder stiori. So that per first part sounded something like something having to do with flight. And then what would be the translation afterwards?
SPEAKER_02Fluch is is as in Germany, fluch umförder is traffic, and stiori is a controller. So verbetum it's flight traffic controller, basically.
SPEAKER_00Cool. Sounds nothing like it, but means the same. Working positions in ACC, do you have the four eye principle? Yes, they do for ACC.
SPEAKER_02In approach we don't really, but we have the capabilities of of uh splitting up the sectors into Capital G and Reggie Week approach, and then also uh in Capital Week on the Capital Week side we have a final controller or director, if you want.
SPEAKER_00Uh team resource management. Do you have a structured uh something like the pilots have uh in Iceland?
SPEAKER_02I'll go, I'll take this one. We basically don't within the unit, but we have a few years ago we we set up a team from Tower in Keplerwick and approach to sort of consolidate our efforts in making things smoother within the units so that we would understand the job of the tower more and tower would understand the approach side as well, so that we could basically push traffic in in a more effective manner, in regards to like giving gaps and and departure gaps and and uh things like that.
SPEAKER_00Right. Let's go into a little bit more detail on that part. So what's the history there? The approach, if I remember correctly from the talk we had before, it was attached to the tower and then it moved to the ACC. Do you think that might have played a part into the gap becoming bigger? Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
SPEAKER_02When I started or when I I trained in Keplervik, it it was I started tower and then approach was on the second floor in the tower in Kaplovik. And that's where I did my approach training and and uh rating as well. And the relationship between tower and approach then was much better. I actually went to the mid list in 2010, and in the meantime, when I before I came back, they moved the approach radar into the um ACC in Reykjavik. And I think the idea was to bridge the gap between approach and ACC. It did. It fixed it, but what it did, it created a bit of a gap between tower and approach.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, just moved the gap.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. We we wanted to to bridge that with this little team of us uh of ours and and um sort of smooth things over because there there were a little conflicts between tower and approach.
SPEAKER_00I think it the big thing is that the work of tower controllers is so different from radar controllers. And uh so the understanding is sometimes not quite there. What would you say, Aeglo, is that uh already good enough or should more be done?
SPEAKER_05Regarding that and everything, I believe you can always uh do better, make progress, and I think there is definitely improvement there and opportunities to make it better. And don't misunderstand me, it's uh not bad at all. But I think it's definitely improvement to make the communication better and regarding everything, uh communication is the key. And you know, have the conversation around it.
SPEAKER_00True. You need the time and the space for it, and then you have to communicate. True. Another acronym that we always talk about is CISM, critical incident stress management. Do you have that if anything goes wrong in uh Iceland, uh Maui?
SPEAKER_02Yes, we do. We have uh actually a quite impressive CISM unit here, or there's uh eleven, I think it's eleven, rather than twelve us us of us that have been uh certified, and I am actually one of them.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so that's why you said it's an impressive team.
SPEAKER_02Yes, exactly. No, uh but I'm I'm I'm grateful that the company actually realizes how important this is for the controllers to have a support system like this, and and they've they've put some effort and and finance in into it, and we've had uh specialists from Germany come to Iceland at least once a year for the past three years to to give us the courses and and train us.
SPEAKER_05If I may add one thing. I think uh I think one of the positive developments in aviation is that we are better talking about the human side of the safety critical work. Controllers are trained to be calm and professional, but we are still human beings and supports after difficult events matter and can just make a huge impact.
SPEAKER_00I remember a panel discussion If I had in Singapore and it was about uh the human factor that EDCOs don't seek help quite often when they need some, because they have been told that they've been checked and they're basically great people and shouldn't be. That was a really interesting panel discussion. And Sism is a tiny part to make the people ask for help and open the eyes of people. If you have reactions that go beyond this Maui, you you are trained to say, okay, this is as far as as a peer I can go and I can help you until this point, and then you need professional help.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I think it's the important thing is also to to make it not um a taboo to talk to someone about what you're going through at work. So we have to be more visible, and I I think there's some leaflets being made now, and and also I think it should be or it's gonna be introduced more into basic training to to make people understand this is part of the job that you can also you can always have help and it doesn't have to be a negative thing to to speak to someone about how you're feeling about something at the job.
SPEAKER_00I hope it's uh going the right direction everywhere. Off to a lighter topic. Echo sport events, something to blow off some steam sometimes. What do controllers do in Iceland? What kind of sport? They glow.
SPEAKER_05Actually now we have our team in Iceland. They are at the AGC now?
SPEAKER_00European Soccer Cup. And what did you say the name was of the team? The pink team?
SPEAKER_03The Pink.
SPEAKER_00Pink, I'm sorry. The pink team.
SPEAKER_02I've never been to the sporting events, but I know teams from Iceland have gone to the football, the the golf, skiing. Um but I've actually never been myself.
SPEAKER_00Okay. But the usual kind of European sports stuff. Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and they're quite active and they're really, you know, they're like a large group there now.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. This is kind of what I think is part of a larger team resource management. Like you get the Edcurs from different countries together and talk about stuff as well. Yeah, absolutely. I love that about IFATCA and that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they are like they say it's most of the fun part is like also, you know, connecting to the people from another country and because we are an island nation, so I think we need this those events.
SPEAKER_00Uh the next part is particularities. What is special or peculiar about a certain country? In Iceland it's always weather, and we may have touched up it already a little, but let's go into detail here. Egglo, you're working Keflovik, what kind of factor is weather there and how does it affect your work?
SPEAKER_05From a tower perspective, Keflavik is really interesting because we deal with combination of course of the traffic and changing weather with the operation and close coordination with the airport operations. The picture can change quickly and that requires flexibility, a strong situational awareness both with the traffic controllers and with the airport operation. Winter operation can be quite challenging, especially when temperatures around freezing points. Those conditions, runway surface conditions, can change quickly, and the runway can be difficult to manage. It's not always just about snow. It will be easier if it will always be like minus 1020 and price snow. But we have ice slash wet snow and black guys that can all affect breaking action and the overall operation. But we are really fortunate to have an excellent snow removal team and they are constantly working to keep the runway, taxiways, and aprons areas operational. And the goal is to always keep the airport operational as much as possible, so we never close the runways or close the airport. But in Iceland winter condition, it can be a complex.
SPEAKER_00So you mentioned lots of types of snow. Dry snow, wet snow, slush. I know all of that. But I haven't seen, I think, black ice yet. Could you explain what that is and how it occurs?
SPEAKER_05People may be related to on the roads more, but also on the runways. It can be very difficult to see because the surface may look wet or almost normal, but it can be a thin layer of transparent ice and that can affect braking action, vehicle movement, and taxi in aircraft. So the runway condition reporting and close coordination with the airport operation is very important because it's hard for us to see in the tower, but we are uh we are quite used to. And if I say for my part, you know, we monitor the temperatures and we see and we know how the weather affects in certain conditions. So we can just see okay, it's dropping or getting close together and we know it's coming.
SPEAKER_00So you have to watch the dew point and the temperature, what kind of range are we talking about?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we closely monitor that because the temperature can be above freezing level, but the dew point is getting when it's like uh really close to each other and when it's like near to the point zero, it can be really hard to manage.
SPEAKER_00It's and when you say that quite often you have got temperature and dew point together, so wow, is fork a huge topic in uh Keflavik as well?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we have uh we have quite often low visibility and actually we have like really often low visibility at the summer because Kaplak Airport is close to the sea, and from the west side of the airport is the Atlantic Ocean and we have wind and everything and it comes especially in the morning. In the summer morning can be difficult. Thank you so much, Egglo.
SPEAKER_00That was really interesting. Maui, from the bird's eye view of an approach controller, what would you say is special?
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm on the other side of uh what Egglo is talking about the weather. It's it also obviously affects us if the runway closes or there's no snow removal in progress. In recent years, I would uh think or I have a sense that uh the weather is is getting more extreme as well. We've we've have more uh reports of lightning, for example. Uh thunderstorms or thunderclouds across the terminal area. Traffic-wise, uh obviously we've seen some increase in military activity, especially with submarine patrolling. Uh the Americans left the Navy base in 2006. They've stepped up their operation in the last maybe five, six years in Keflavic, and they've been building new hangars, and we've had every year we've we have a NATO nation sending uh fighter jets to patrol the airspace. So that that makes the approach uh environment interesting to mix it in with uh with the commercials.
SPEAKER_00So the fighters are stationed in Keflavik as well?
SPEAKER_02Yes. But only for a short period of time. So it's the it changes they change them out from uh because it's basically since the Americans left, it's been NATO that's taken over the uh airspace patrolling.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and we have like uh scheduled uh few times over the year and it's increasing and getting almost like constantly when one army is leaving, another one is coming from NATO, and they uh have like a scheduled air defense practices.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so the political climate is having an effect on your ATC work. That's always a shame.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, definitely increasing, yeah. We can see we can just see that really clearly. They do a practice in Kaploik, uh uh both with their proads and the tower. And yeah, so they have their flight training and stuff at the Kaploik because of of course it is on military airports also. It is the biggest international airport in the country, and combined with a military operation, it can be complex, but like every other challenge, it's most of the fun part of the job also.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the traffic mix is always challenging, but it as you say, it makes it interesting as well. And honestly, fighters are cool sometimes as well. They're just completely different kind of aircraft to control. I see Maui smiling there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I love it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, me too. And I got really lucky when I was uh actually when I was in my training. Yeah, there was a lot of it, so I got confidence, you know, when I after I graduated because we we are so lucky to also manage that when you're training, you don't just go in for the first time yourself dealing with it.
SPEAKER_00Right. It's interesting, but as well it's kind of different to work with them. Yes. We moved, we touched on it a little already, the future, what's coming. Um Eglo, let's start with you. What's coming in Iceland? That's interesting.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, after Kaploeik, we are working with um modernization, connecting to ground surveillance and future tower system. And from my perspective, the most important question is not only what technology can do and what we are gonna do, but how can we implement it so it generally supports safety procedures, training, and workload? And like one of the major themes in the future is how this technology can support the controller. And in the tower operation, back to ground surveillance regarding low-visibility procedures, safety nets, and improved situation awareness. So the tool can be viable, and but the technology must fit the operational reality, it will support the controller, but not to place the professional judgment. And at this moment we are implementing surface movement rater, uh ground rater for Kaploic, additional to uh MLA and multi-disational stations. Um and then we are gonna end with adding the ASMIX.
SPEAKER_00It's very important for EDCOS to be involved when new systems are being developed and introduced. So would you say that ADCOs are sufficiently involved, AGLO?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, uh I'm involved in the implementation of the new system for the tower with the research and development department in the alliance. And we are making requirements for the new system, and we'll be adding more ADCOs later on in the procedure, and I think it's really important to have a system that supports like to support the controller, not to replace the professional judgments.
SPEAKER_00And will the new system have some kind of runway incursion warning, which is a big topic around the world?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. We are planning to have all of the safety nets. We have like a runway incursion, and we are also gonna have implemented with routing and clear controller clearance input. So it will monitor that, surveillance-based and clearance input. And we are gonna implement it in in some states. It will change how we we prepare the profession for the future, definitely.
SPEAKER_00Definitely did um in the upper airspace where our work when we introduced the trajectory-based operations and you had to put in every clearance so the system knows what you did and and assists you, that was a huge change for me as well. So interesting that um this is coming in Kiflovic now.
SPEAKER_05The technology is becoming more important in the tower and the key, as I said, supports the controller. So that's why, yeah, system like surveillance tools, safety nets and improved ground situational awareness can be very valuable, especially with the complex with the weather and the lower visibility. It's a need for that.
SPEAKER_00I I was uh rather surprised that you didn't have ground surveillance uh already under that kind of conditions. Maui, do you what do you think from your side um what should be done or what is being done in Iceland?
SPEAKER_02Well there's obviously there's increase in traffic every year. So what I would like to do myself is change the sits and stars and change the traced job level. These are all things that have worked so far but are sort of on the verge of not uh supporting the traffic flow at the moment when it's at peak. So to have sits and stars and a system that only works maybe seven, eight months out of the year and it's a hindrance. The rest it needs to be changed. So I'd love to be part of it because I have some ideas. It hasn't started yet, but hopefully soon.
SPEAKER_00What do you think? Uh did your time in the Middle East play some part in your point of view to come back and see what could be improved?
SPEAKER_02Yes, for sure. So uh I worked Dubai Radar, which is uh considerably busy than more busy than than here. So um very well structured and uh it definitely taught me a lot. So when I got back in in 2022, I I could immediately see uh places of where improvements could be made. And it doesn't have to be that complicated, so but uh it definitely could help.
SPEAKER_00Sometimes it's the small things, yes, I definitely agree.
SPEAKER_05Maybe just add to the other previous stuff regarding the technology. Uh I'm very interested in how technology can support safety and situational awareness and future operation and outside work. I'm actually finishing my master's thesis, and I'm also studying the leadership and strategy with the MPA University. So I'm quite interested in how aviation organization develops and how we manage change and how we prepare the profession for the future.
SPEAKER_00And I'm expecting great things from you. What's the topic of your master's thesis?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's called in English When Structure Shapes Decisions. It looks at Isabia group structure and how their organizational structure can influence decision making regarding governance and strategy priorities and public education infrastructure. Like as an traffic controller, I find this interesting because the ATC is a safety critical public function, and we have the mother company that is like competitive business, you know, international airport, and then we have the ANSP as the daughter company of Iceland. And then we have the another sister company that is the regional airport in Iceland, and it's like controlled and financed from the government, but inside this company. So I'm just uh looking at the picture, uh, how we can, you know, make the communication better should we do it in some other way? And I'm comparing it to uh another countries as Germany and Norwegian and Lithuania, and yeah, and like a state-owned company in the aviation and on that structure.
SPEAKER_00That sounds really interesting.
SPEAKER_05It's uh combine, you know, strategy, financing, governance, and political, and because it's all affecting each other and together. And in the end, as the title says, one structure shapes decision, how things are done due to these opinions.
SPEAKER_00So please translate it in English, and then you can send it to me. I'd love to read it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, maybe you can I can use the AI.
SPEAKER_00I'll just send you uh I don't trust them to be honest. I don't trust them.
SPEAKER_03No, I will read it over first.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much, you two, for giving us this overview and I had fun. It was really nice to learn about Iceland. Thank you so much. Local language goodbye. Icelandic is a interesting sounding language. What do you say as goodbye, Maui? Uh I would say takven meh or nyuch the taxes, Torsten.
SPEAKER_02That would mean like literally translated. It would mean thank you very much and enjoy the day, Thorsten.
SPEAKER_00I will definitely, and Aiglo.
SPEAKER_04And I would say Erico and Tar for bless bless. And that means have a nice day and bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Bye-bye. Bless bless. And as a little postscriptum for everybody who was wondering, I reached out to Aiglo afterwards in summer and her thesis was graded and she graduated successfully. Congrats, Egglo!