City Airport to build digital air traffic control tower

London City Airport has launched plans to build a 50-metre high digital air traffic control tower.The building will contain 14 HD cameras which will beam pictures back to a new operations room at the Hampshire base of national air traffic control centre NATS.It means planes will be guided in and out by a team sitting miles away from the airport rather than a traditional perch over the runway.Cameras on the new tower at the Docklands site will provide a full 360 degree view of the airfield in a level of detail greater than the human eye.Images will be sent to the NATS centre via independent and secure super-fast fibre networks.The technology from Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions is already in use at Örnsköldsvik and Sundsvall airports in Sweden.Construction of the 50-metre digital tower will begin later this year on a site located in the airport’s long-stay car park.It is due to be completed in 2018, followed by more than a year of rigorous testing and training, during which the existing 30-year old tower will continue to operate.The digital tower will become fully operational in 2019.