Swedavia’s Kiruna Airport first to introduce remote air traffic services – key step in Swedavia’s digitisation strategy and the airports of the future
Kiruna Airport is the first of Swedavia’s airports to introduce remote tower services. Starting Tuesday, June 1, air traffic at the airport will be managed from Stockholm Arlanda and the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration’s new remote tower centre. The plan is for three more Swedavia airports to start remote air traffic services before the end of 2022.
In 2016, Swedavia and the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration (LFV) signed a declaration of intent to study the conditions for remote tower services. November 2017, an agreement was signed to set up these services at four of Swedavia’s airports – Kiruna Airport, Umeå Airport, Åre Östersund Airport and Malmö Airport. The first to be connected under the programme is Kiruna Airport, Swedavia’s northernmost airport.
“Naturally it is gratifying that after many years of intense work and collaboration with the Swedish Civil Aviation Adminstration we are now taking the first step towards remote tower services at our airports. Launching the services at Kiruna Airport is a milestone in Swedavia’s digitisation and innovation strategy and as well as our continious work to develop the airports of the future in line with our connectivity mission,” says Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s president and CEO.
The plan is for the three other Swedavia airports in the programme to introduce remote tower services before the end of 2022, starting with Åre Östersund Airport, followed by Umeå Airport and finally Malmö Airport. Remote tower services are already in operation in Sweden as well as internationally. Just one month ago, London City Airport made the switch to remote tower services.
“We now have new opportunities for more efficient airport operations, and at the same time we safeguard important regional access by ensuring redundancy and enabling flexible opening hours. We look forward to good collaboration in the continued work to place the system in service at our other airports,” says Jonas Abrahamsson.
The new remote tower services at Kiruna Airport were developed by Saab and includes 14 cameras, which provide a 360-degree view of the airport and its surroundings, replacing the current control tower service on site at the airport.
“One of the greatest advantages that we see with the transition to remote tower services is that the technology will make it easier for us to ensure our preparedness with air ambulance flights 24 hours a day, but it will also make our mission to provide connectivity with scheduled passenger service easier,” says Andreas Fredriksson, airport director of Kiruna Airport at Swedavia.
Kiruna Airport is also the first airport to be managed from the Swedish Civil Aviation Administration’s new remote tower centre at Stockholm Arlanda. The remote tower centre is located immediately adjacent to the administration’s air traffic control centre there, from which much of the air traffic in Sweden is managed.
For further information, please contact Swedavia’s press office at tel. +46 (0)10-109 01 00 or press@swedavia.se.
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