LFV Annual report 2018 1
DIRE C T OR ’ S REPOR T L F V 2018 LFV IS BUILDIN
G F OR A DIGITAL FUTURE R T S – REMO TE T O WER SER VICE S LFV continues its efforts to digitalise air traffic management. The remote air traffic management agreement between LFV and Swedavia was finalised on 23 November 2017. Initially, four airports – Kiruna Airport, Umeå Airport, Åre/Östersund Airport and Malmö Airport – will be remotely managed from RTC Stockholm. In November 2017, construction of the control centre for remote air traffic management, RTC Stockholm (Remote Tower Centre), began, situated right next to LFV’s existing control centre at Arlanda. During 2018, at the same time as the construction project in Arlanda, intensive preparation work was under way at the four airports: finding the best places for the masts, applying for building permits, taking soil samples, casting foundations and raising masts. RTC Stockholm is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019. Technical installations will then commence, along with everything else that needs to be installed for remote air traffic management. The four airports will then gradually be connected to RTC Stockholm, which is estimated to be put into service next year. RTC Stockholm will be LFV’s and Sweden's second control centre for remote air traffic management: air traffic at Örnsköldsvik Airport and Sundsvall-Timrå Airport have been managed from RTC Sundsvall since 2015. Once fully developed, RTC Stockholm will have capacity for 24 airports. This means that Sweden and LFV are well equipped to meet an expected growing demand for digital air traffic management services. REMOTE AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT RTS – Remote Tower Services Work with RTS and its development has continued throughout the year. Within the framework of collaboration and the project with Swedavia, the construction of a new control centre is under way at Arlanda along with preparations for implementing remote air traffic management at four of Swedavia’s airports. At RTC Sundsvall, operational running of the airports in Sundsvall and Örnsköldsvik continues. In parallel with this, development of multiple mode continues, which means that one controller should be able to be responsible for air traffic management at multiple airports. Work on obtaining operational approval for Linköping City Airport, which previously signed an agreement with LFV for remote air traffic management, has also continued during the year. The associated company Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions AB (SDATS) has also continued to work on marketing, developing and selling solutions for remote air traffic management. During the autumn, SDATS signed agreements with the airports in Örnsköldsvik and Sundsvall for remote air traffic management for these airports from RTC Sundsvall, starting in 2019. This will mean that SDATS will take over responsibility for air traffic management services for these airports from LFV, which has operating contracts with the airports until then. LFV investigates remote air traffic management In April 2018, LFV was commissioned to investigate the consequences of remote air traffic management for the basic government services, that is, at all of Swedavia’s airports. The assignment would take into account long-term aspects of operating conditions, financial considerations, efficiency, redundancy, effects on national defence, and regional consequences, including centralisation. The report was submitted to the government on 21 December 2018. The impact assessment indicates that the transition to RTS brings about a change of platform that creates significant development opportunities for both LFV and Swedavia. 29