What this session covered
This focused briefing, delivered by Paolo Nasetti, treated moving from a conventional control tower to a remote tower control centre as a coordinated activation process rather than a technology swap. It walked through the sequence and dependencies that took a remote tower control centre to live operations: the system architecture, sensor suites, and communication infrastructure underpinning reliable remote operations; the regulatory and certification pathway required before a centre could handle live traffic; and the controller training and readiness validation that had to be completed before activation. The operational question it answered was concrete: what does it actually take — in approvals, validation, and training — to switch a remote tower control centre into live service safely, and what does the activation experience reveal about how remote operations differ from conventional towers in practice?
Why it mattered
Remote and digital tower operations had moved from demonstration to deployment, positioned as a way to sustain air traffic services at airports where a conventional tower is costly to staff or maintain, and to consolidate services across multiple aerodromes. That made the activation step — not the underlying technology — the practical bottleneck: a remote tower control centre cannot handle live traffic until its certification pathway is complete and its controllers are validated as ready. With ANSPs across Europe pursuing remote tower programmes against the same controller-staffing constraints affecting the wider network, a clear, repeatable activation process directly affected how quickly the operating and resilience benefits could be realised. Setting out the steps, dependencies, and live-deployment lessons gave operators a reference for planning their own transitions rather than rediscovering the sequence each time.
Key takeaways for ATM operators
- Activation is a process, not a switch. Bringing a remote tower control centre into live service depended on a sequenced set of approvals, technical validation, and operational transition steps — getting the order and dependencies right was the core of the task.
- Certification gates the go-live. A remote tower control centre could not handle live traffic until its regulatory and certification pathway was complete, making the approval process a primary determinant of timeline rather than the technology itself.
- Controller readiness had to be validated, not assumed. Preparing controllers to work effectively in a remote environment — and validating that readiness before activation — was a distinct workstream, with live deployment exposing the practical differences from conventional tower operations.
Frequently asked questions
Who delivered this session at Airspace World 2026?
The session was delivered by Paolo Nasetti, who presented the operational activation of remote tower control centre technology. It was presented as part of the Innovation to Enable Future Skies theme at Airspace World 2026.
When and where did this session take place at ASW 2026?
The session took place on Tuesday 26 May 2026 from 15:00 to 15:25 local Lisbon time (WEST, UTC+1) in the Boeing Theatre at FIL — Feira Internacional de Lisboa, the Parque das Nações venue that hosted Airspace World 2026 from 26 to 28 May 2026.
What is a remote tower control centre?
A remote tower control centre provides air traffic services to one or more aerodromes from a location away from the airport itself, using camera and sensor feeds, communications links, and controller working positions in place of an on-site visual tower. It allows services to be sustained where a conventional tower is costly to staff or maintain, and supports consolidating services from several aerodromes into one centre.
What does it take to activate a remote tower for live operations?
Activation is a coordinated process rather than a single switch: it requires the technical system to be validated, the regulatory and certification pathway to be completed, and controllers to be trained and assessed as ready before any live traffic is handled. The session set out the sequence and dependencies among those steps.
How do remote tower operations differ from conventional towers in practice?
The live-deployment experience highlighted practical differences in how controllers work with camera and sensor feeds rather than direct out-the-window views, and in the system architecture and communications infrastructure that the operation depends on. The session drew on activation experience to show where those differences matter operationally.