What to expect
CANSO's Tomorrow's Voices initiative surveys and convenes early-career aviation professionals to surface the perspectives that the industry's leadership often does not hear. This session presents findings and facilitates discussion on:
- Tomorrow's Voices survey methodology and findings — how CANSO gathered data from early-career ATM professionals and students across member organisations, and what the results reveal about career motivations and concerns
- Gen Z values and aviation career choices — how the generation entering the workforce now thinks about job security, organisational culture, career progression, and purpose — and how aviation is perceived against other industries
- What ANSPs must change in their employment proposition — the specific aspects of ANSP working environments, career structures, and culture that the survey identifies as misaligned with next-generation expectations
- Diversity and inclusion data — the demographic profile of new entrants to ATM roles across CANSO member organisations, and where structural barriers persist
- Skills for the automated ATM environment — how early-career professionals perceive the impact of increasing automation on their future careers, and whether current training prepares them for it
Key questions this session will address
What do Gen Z aviation professionals actually want from a career in ATM? Beyond salary and job stability, the Tomorrow's Voices research surfaces the values — purpose, flexibility, continuous learning, and social impact — that drive career decisions for the cohort now entering the workforce. This session presents that evidence and examines its implications for ANSP recruitment and retention.
Are ANSPs doing enough on diversity and inclusion? The panel will discuss the current demographic profile of the ATM workforce pipeline and the structural and cultural factors that continue to limit diversity in a sector where controller demographics have changed slowly. The discussion will draw on data from CANSO member organisations.
How should the industry talk about automation with people it is trying to recruit? Increasing ATC automation is a reality, but it creates a communication challenge: how do organisations recruit and retain talented people for roles that are visibly changing? This session will address how ANSPs are handling that conversation internally and externally.
Why it matters
Aviation faces a genuine talent challenge. The combination of an ageing controller workforce, demanding training pipelines, and competition from technology and other industries for the same talent pool creates structural risk for ATM capacity. Hearing directly from the generation the industry is trying to recruit — and understanding what they need — is essential for any credible workforce strategy.