Airservices is a government-owned corporation providing safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible services to the aviation industry. We manage air traffic operations for around 75 million passengers on more than three million flights every year.

Remote Tower Technology

Remote TowerRemote Tower Technology allows air traffic at remote airports to be managed and controlled from a single, larger centre. It is less expensive than physical building control towers and can provide a more flexible service, easily adapting to changes in demand at low to medium traffic level airports. It can also be used for contingency services at major critical airports.

Airservices will evaluate the use of Remote Tower Technology by providing aerodrome and approach control services at Alice Springs airport from a Remote Tower Centre in Adelaide for a period of four months in late 2012. A contract was signed with Saab in May 2011 to provide a system for evaluation.

Installation and testing will begin in early 2012 with the evaluation itself occurring over approximately four months in late 2012. Air traffic controllers from Alice Springs will provide services from Adelaide for periods of the day during the evaluation, although there will always be a safety controller monitoring the traffic from Alice Springs Tower. At the end of the evaluation the Remote Tower Technology equipment will be removed from Alice Springs and tower operations will return to normal.

The evaluation will allow Airservices to examine the application of this technology in the Australian environment. In particular, the evaluation will help to assess whether the system has the potential to meet demand for services in areas such as the remote north-west of the country.

The evaluation reflects Airservices ongoing commitment to the development and implementation of new technology to make aviation safer, more environmentally friendly and more efficient.

During the Australian evaluation there will be no change to existing air traffic control arrangements. Any decision to roll-out the technology to non-controlled aerodromes will involve industry consultation, safety assessments and regulatory approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).