Air Traffic Controllers to be Replaced by Remote Systems

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British airports are considering using digital technology to monitor planes in place of air traffic controllers.

Cameras and sensors could make traditional towers “obsolete” by 2025 according to Saab, who have pioneered the technology. The Telegraph reports that the Swedish defence and security company has already trialled the new systems in the United States, Sweden, Australia, Norway and Ireland.

Now several major British airports are considering scrapping air traffic control towers in favour of a digital set-up, where cameras relay information from the runway to a remote control room.

Saab says the technology, which was showcased at last week’s Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, comes at a fraction of the cost of the older system without affecting safety.

Aviation expert Thomas Withington said: “Remote air traffic control is already in operation at smaller airports, as there isn’t always an air traffic control officer present in the control tower.

A larger airport, for example, can perform local air traffic control for a smaller airport because the former has a radar which covers a huge area and it makes more practical and economic sense for them to do so.

He added that “digital air traffic control services will still use controllers to monitor such systems, but maybe will have just one or two instead of a whole tower full of people.”

Proponents of the system claim they are more effective than having people on the ground, since cameras can pick up things which are harder to spot with the human eye.

Mr Withington also said that modern security measures were so sophisticated that there was virtually no risk to passengers.

He said: “In terms of hacking, there’s always a risk for anything, but the level of communications and security encryption in these systems will be very, very hard to hack to the point where it’s almost impossible. Commercial flights would have at least the same level of communications security as that used for military communications, or possibly more.”

The Irish Aviation Authority is trialling the use of digital towers at Cork and Shannon airports, with air traffic managed at a control centre hundreds of miles away at Dublin airport. The United States is also testing the technology at Leesburg Airport in Virginia.

The system made its world debut in Ornskoldsvik Airport in Sweden, where flights have been controlled by a remote tower in Sundsvall, 110 miles away, since 2015.

Britain’s air navigation service provider NATS has confirmed it is considering a number of potential digital projects in the UK.

Several major airports across Europe are also looking into using the systems, Saab has said.