Will air traffic go remote control?

As the world shrinks further, borders matter less. Business is one of the key areas both driving this phenomenon, and being affected by it. Increasingly, people work across the country and the globe, making connections both professional and personal, and necessitating travel.

That means continually increasing demand for airport operations (takeoffs and landings) in more locations. The world’s airline passengers will soon reach 7 billion annually; aircraft manufacturers are in heaven.

We need more commercial airports, too. Globally about $900 billion in (new and existing) airport development plans are underway, according to CAPA Centre for Aviation, which conducts market analyses. Some smaller airports could grow to help meet this demand, but not without skilled personnel to safely manage traffic.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the world will be short 40,000 air traffic controllers by 2030. The ATC industry has not been attracting enough trainees to meet demand, in part because of regulatory problems making it hard to recruit them. Some solutions — such as making it too easy — result in different problems, such as inadequate skill levels.

The latest idea brings video gamers to mind: Remote-access air traffic control. Yup; one day your air traffic controller could be 100 miles away from where you’ll land.

As reported by Bloomberg, the technology is there, thanks to remote-access cameras, sensitive enough to cut through fog and detect small objects on runways. From miles away a controller sits before big-screen monitors showing different airports, with a stylus and a tablet computer.

Right now at least, this possibility is focused on smaller airports; on-site control towers in general aren’t going away. But the option is cheaper than hiring full-time controllers, says Sweden’s SAAB, one of two companies which make this technology. The other is Paris-based Thales SA.

So far the technology has been tested in the U.S., Australia, and Europe. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says remote control ATC cuts costs and improves staffing models. It does not, however, replace skilled controllers who must operate the equipment, and whose numbers must still rise to meet future demand.

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network, private pilot, and member of the Coeur d’Alene Airport Advisory Board. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.