Tallinn remote tower centre is now serving Kuressaare flights
Starting from today, 8 May, flights at Kuressaare Airport will be served from the Estonian Air Navigation Services remote tower centre in Tallinn. This is a step forward in the state plan to consolidate the flight information service of all regional airports to one centre, harmonising the service and providing it remotely using digital solutions.
As part of the change, the flight information service provided by Tallinn Airport in Kuressaare is transferred to the Estonian Air Navigation Services. Since the Estonian Air Navigation Services manages the air traffic in Estonia, the transition of the service is a natural measure for air traffic harmonisation purposes. The service will be provided remotely from the modern remote tower centre. This will not bring about any changes to the passengers, as the flights will continue to operate as before.
The remote tower solution comes with more air traffic management options. For example, the flight information service officer will have a 360-degree view of what is happening at the airport. It is also possible to visually focus on objects much more precisely than with ordinary binoculars.
Remote tower systems have multiple backups and their operation is subject to high requirements. Their work is constantly monitored to ensure their continual operation.
The transition to remote towers is occurring gradually in several parts of the world, primarily in regional airports with lower traffic density, where it is a more rational solution. Estonia has switched to the remote tower solution, first in Tartu and now also in Kuressaare.
The remote tower system has been fully developed in Estonia by local professionals; it began in cooperation with Cybernetica AS and continued on with Adacel Technologies Estonia.