Avinor’s digital Remote Tower Centre is one step closer to multiple towers operations

Photo credit: Avinor/Øystein Løwer

Avinor operates a total of eight airport towers remotely from its digital Remote Towers Centre located north of the Arctic Circle. An additional three airport towers are due to be phased in during Q1 of 2023. Advanced sequential operations means that an AFIS operator can operate two airport towers during one shift, from the same working position during times when there are no simultaneous aircraft movements.

-For Avinor this is an important milestone in that we can utilise the digital remote towers technology in a more efficient manner. This has been made possible through close collaboration with our technology partners at Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Indra, as well as through an open and transparent dialogue with the Norwegian CAA, says Lars Vågsdal, Chief Technology Officer at Avinor.

-The first few days of operations have gone seamlessly and our AFIS operators have responded positively to the new Advanced sequential operations procedures, says Jens Petter Duestad, Head of operations at Avinor’s Remote Towers Centre in Bodø, Norway.

First step towards the world’s first multiple towers operations

Avinor has taken an important step towards multiple towers operations with the introduction of Advanced sequential operations. With the multiple operations mode an AFIS operator or air traffic controller can operate multiple airports with low traffic volumes simultaneously.

-We aim at introducing multiple towers operations in 2024. While Avinor will be the first company in the world to introduce this, the real motivation lies within the fact that we can run our tower operations in a substantially more efficient manner, both economically and operationally, says Jan Gunnar Pedersen, Executive Vice President at Avinor Air Navigations Services.