Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict Airborne Conflict; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic
Airspace Structure; Company Policy; Procedure; Human Factors
While I was working an arrival sector I was controlling Aircraft X descending on the ZZZZZ arrival. I was also controlling Aircraft Y that was dropping jumpers from 14;000 ft. directly east of the ZZZZZ arrival. Once Aircraft Y advised me that he dropped his jumpers I saw a potential conflict between Aircraft Y descending to their airport and Aircraft X descending on the arrival. To resolve this conflict I instructed Aircraft Y to descend east so that the aircraft would descend away from Aircraft X. Aircraft Y did not proceed as I instructed and instead turned west bound and continued to descend on top of Aircraft X. As soon as I saw Aircraft Y ignoring my instruction and descending west I issued traffic to Aircraft X and instructed him to turn northwest bound heading 330.Aircraft X did not hear my initial instruction and I had to repeat with a traffic alert and a further turn northwest bound heading 310. Not only is the pilot of Aircraft Y ignoring my instructions a safety risk but the LOA (Letter of Agreement) that is in place with these skydive operations is not specific enough to keep these operations at a safe distance from our ZZZZZ arrival. As long as I have been working here this has been a safety issue. The pilots of these skydive operations have been allowed to practice unsafe operations without any repercussions. To prevent a reoccurrence of this event I think there should be a dialogue between our facility and the pilots of these skydive operations. If there is one already then I am not aware of this because there appears to be no transparency between the controllers and management. I also think that the LOA we have in place with Company A and Company B are not specific enough to ensure a safe operation between skydiving and aircraft descending on the arrival. The LOA between TRACON; Company A and Company B should be re-written to ensure the safe operation of aircraft within the TRACON airspace.
An Approach Controller reported an airborne conflict between a parachute jump aircraft and an air carrier on arrival.