2 MAY 2022

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Article from BTNews 2 MAY 2022

LCY digital tower celebration

Just one year ago on 30 April last year, London City Airport (LCY) and NATS announced the successful launch of the first digital air traffic control (ATC) tower at a mainstream UK commercial airport.

The pandemic, and lack of flights has proved useful for the traffic controllers, based 108 miles away in the NATS control centre in Swanwick, using the gradual pick up in traffic to build resilience and familiarity across the ATC team.  

“One of the challenges was how little traffic there was due to Covid. However, the lower traffic levels helped us get to grips with the new technology and to get familiar with the new infrastructure at the airport”, said Lawrie McCurrach, NATS Watch Manager at LCY.
 
“It now has a full-length taxi way so there is no more back tracking up the runway. There are also extra stands for the aircraft to park in, so we basically no longer control the same airport that we did before when we were based in the physical tower”.

ATC is provided by a digital system, which sees 14 high-definition cameras and sensors mounted on a landside mast at the airport which provide a 360-degree view of the airfield.

Whilst not at 2019 levels yet the airport is now seeing highs of over 11,000 passengers per day and 180 daily rotations. This comes ahead of a busy summer season which will find LCY connect to 35 destinations around the UK and Europe.

Also see BTN 8 July 2019 ON TOUR: NATS at Swanwick.

www.nats.aero

www.londoncityairport.com

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