The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has taken steps towards demonstrating SESAR Remote Tower Services with the signature of a contract with Saab to deliver a Remote Tower Centre to Dublin Airport through corresponding remote tower installations at Cork and Shannon Airports.
Co-funded by the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU), the Large Scale Demonstration Project will trial the installation of remote sensor suites at Cork and Shannon, which will be operated from a central location at Dublin, first in parallel with manned towers and later as stand-alone remote operations, at least during some times of the day. Electronic Flight Strips (EFS) for Dublin airport will also be included. The trials will take place on a number of occasions throughout 2015 and 2016.
Remotely operated towers offer significant potential to assist air navigation service providers such as the IAA to reduce and control their costs in line with airline and European Commission expectations whilst maintaining safety and service delivery. This potential is greatest at smaller, less busy regional airports where the volume of traffic is likely to be insufficient to cover the costs of service provision.
“We are focused on the implementation of safe, leading-edge and cost-efficient technology for the benefit of our customers and we are very pleased to be involved in this SESAR Large Scale Demonstration activity during 2015 and 2016. In our drive to become ever more cost effective, we’re constantly seeking innovative approaches, through cutting edge technology, to enhance our ATM service offering,” said Peter Kearney, IAA Director of ATM Operations and Strategy. “Remote tower operations are part of the future and it is something the IAA is very keen to exploit. Through this work with SESAR and Saab we will lead a further evolution of remote tower technologies in Europe paving the way for permanent deployment of remote tower solutions” said Peter Kearney, IAA Director of ATM Operations and Strategy.”