(THE GIBRALTAR CHRONICLE).- Trevor Hammond, the general manager of Gibraltar's air traffic control, is supervising and coordinating operations recently-privatised airports in Spain, it was revealed this week. The development came after Mr Hammond's employer, UK-based air traffic controller NATS, teamed up with Ferrovial last year to bid in the liberalisation of Spanish airports by the state airport authority AENA.
Last September FerroNATS, a joint venture between the two companies, won contracts to provide air traffic control at 10 Spanish airports.
Spanish-speaker Mr Hammond, who is married to Opposition MP Isobel Ellul-Hammond, was a natural choice to help manage the new set-up in the Spanish airports and ensure a smooth handover from AENA.
But the appointment of a Gibraltarian to oversee critically-important operations at Spanish airports drew criticism from Spanish controllers in an article by the conservative Spanish media outlet COPE.
This week AENA dismissed their concerns as unfounded.
