Midweek Madness Ends
Hello Everyone,
After much consideration, the Marketing Team have decided that the weekly Midweek Madness events will not continue into October, thus Manchester Midweek Madness on the 29th of September will mark the final installment of the event for the foreseeable future.
When the event started in February 2020, we did not expect it would grow anywhere near as popular as it currently is. For those of you who were active on the Network prior to the pandemic, ATC coverage was thin during weekdays and traffic levels were nowhere near what they are today - 40 arrivals/departures would have been a lot for a Wednesday night! We had a relatively small group of controllers who logged on each week, and few positions needed to be opened. Fast forward 6-12 months and were reaching numbers far beyond the real world capacity, ground delays, enroute holding, and fuel diversions. We were rostering 10+ area splits, London and aerodrome coordinators, support controllers for approach and delivery, plus a dedicated planner frequency. This was CTP levels of staffing and organisation all for a weekly event! None of these positions had even existed a few months prior, but thanks to a lot of hard work on behalf of the Operations Department we found ourselves running Midweek Madness events smoother than ever.
Naturally this isn't something which could be sustained long term, gone were the days of putting together a roster in 15 minutes on a Tuesday evening, and the number of controllers required to open that many positions was far beyond what we normally had at our disposal. It came as no surprise then, that once the world started reopening we began to struggle for controllers, particularly at an area level. The changes we made to Midweek Madness in March were to try and increase variety and bring back some of the controllers who were no longer interested. Unfortunately this hasn't been effective, and this is why we have taken the decision to end the event after over a year and a half of (almost) continuous running.
I understand that some of you will be disappointed with this news as you may have become accustomed to flying and controlling in the UK on a Wednesday evening. We always strive to deliver the best events possible and we want to uphold the reputation our division has rightly achieved for delivering a top quality service on the Network. We feel that it is no longer possible to continue doing this, as stretching a small number of C1/3's over large positions for over 3 hours leads to over-congested frequencies, burnt out controllers, and a less enjoyable event for all.
Back in February 2020, there were only a handful of weekly events (Madrid Wednesday and Zurich Night spring to mind). Now you'll find a find an event every night of week in Europe so if you're a pilot don't worry; you'll still be spoilt for choice! The Marketing Team and I would like to personally thank all the people who have helped create new procedures, rosters, graphics, and livestream during the events. Not to brag but but the event even had it's own Youtube trailer! We hope everyone will enjoy our future events, and we look forward to hearing you all on the airwaves over the UK.
All the Best,
Ben, Loui, Tom, and Piers
(The Marketing Ladz)
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