Tours: air traffic controllers will telework from another airport

Anicet Mbida 06:52, January 05, 2023

The innovation of the day will not reassure those who take the plane.

In a few months, there will no longer be a control tower at Tours airport.

Air traffic controllers will telework from another airport.

They will be installed at Toulouse-Blagnac airport.

I don't know if you see where it is in relation to Tours.

If we take a map of France: Toulouse is in the south, not far from the Spanish border.

Tours is much higher, in north-central France, 500 km further.

And yet, it is from there that the controllers will monitor the planes.

This means that they will have to guide them, both on the ground and in flight, only via cameras and screens.

They will no longer see them in real life by looking out the windows.

It's worrying though.

What if there is a breakdown?

It is true that it does not look reassuring.

But we are still talking about air transport.

You can imagine: everything has been ultra-secure.

Doubled cameras.

Armored Computing.

With several dedicated fiber optic connections between Tours and Toulouse.

And then, we remind you, the controllers work mainly with radar and radio.

They manage to guide the planes even when the tower is in the fog.

So there's really nothing to worry about.

Especially since what is happening in Toulouse is far from being an isolated case.

It is even a global trend: almost everywhere in the world, we are trying to physically dissociate air traffic control from the airport.

And therefore to get rid of control towers.

This is the case, for example, in London where traffic is currently managed 120 km from the airport.

If you land at the City, you'll see it.

There is no more control tower.

And according to officials, it's much safer.

Because by relocating it, we protect it from an attack since we can hide it in the basement.

We can even provide emergency control towers and always be sure to guide the planes.

But why Tours and not Orly or Roissy airports near Paris?

Because the military contingent which provided air control in Tours has to move.

And since the airport does not have a huge traffic, it could have simply closed.

The alternative was therefore to relocate the control tower.

And that's just the beginning.

Other airports should follow.

So the next time you pass by a control tower, remember to take a good picture of it.

In a few years, there may not be any more.