Tartu Airport first to transition to remote control towers
State-owned air traffic control institution Lennuliiklusteeninduse AS intends to take airport traffic organization at Tartu Airport to remote and virtual towers (RVT) in October next year, meaning the organization of traffic will be conducted further from the airport itself.
RVT technology allows for all necessary information to direct traffic to be displayed via video systems, which means traffic managers do not have to be at the airport to manage traffic.
The airport traffic service can be conducted from one central position instead of having to have managers at different airports, ensuring the service's availability around the clock, regardless of weather conditions.
From October 2022, the airport at Tartu will be the first to transition to RVT systems. Going forward, the Tartu airport traffic service will instead offer an information service.
Estonian companies began developing RVT technology five years, since there is no reason to have multiple different systems for one large airport and multiple smaller regional airfields.
Many companies worldwide provide RVT systems, but it was cheaper for Estonia to develop the systems themselves. Lennuliiklusteeninduse AS announced in February that the digitalization of Estonian airfields will cost €5.1 million and maintaining the service in four airfields will cost €1.1 million.
At the start of the year, the institution intended to transition Kuressaare Airport to RVT in October this year. The digitalization process of airfields will be completed by the end of 2025.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste