The sheet below sets out the salaries for Air Traffic Controllers in February 1981. It also illustrates the career structure of the day. Each job within ATC was allocated a particular Class and controllers advanced by moving to jobs with higher classification. In those days all Controllers worked in the Tower, Area and Operations areas, with many going on to work radar Approach, which was considered the pinnacle. Notable also is that a significant component of ATC salaries was the additional amount earned for shiftwork, which was paid on a shift-by-shift basis as appropriate.

At this time ATC was still part of the Public Service and salaries were set by the Public Service Board. The benchmark used was equivalence to the salary of a DC-9 First Officer.

This structure changed dramatically in the early 1990s with the introduction of 'streaming', whereby controllers were trained in only one of Approach, Area or Tower (Ops was discontinued). It is fair to say that this latter approach has not been without its problems operationally.

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