14
www.askhelios.com Management and technology consultants World ATM Congress, 9 th March James Hanson Business Model for Remote Towers
www.askhelios.com
Management and technology consultants
World ATM Congress, 9th March
James Hanson
Business Model for Remote Towers
2
Who is really benefiting from remote towers?
3
Most airports don’t chose their ATC provider
Airport ATS
Government
selected
provider
Airport
selected
provider
National (en-
route)
provider
Most other
states
Competitively
selected
provider
Approach and aerodrome control
services are provided in 80% of
States by the en route ANSP(ICAO Survey, 2007)
70-80% of
airports are fully or
partially state-owned(ICAO, ACI)
Global ANSP ownership
Governmentor CAA entity
AutonomousState Owned
PrivatelyOwned
Other
3 %
privately
owned
ANSPs
4
In the absence of choice, airports (or airlines) must
pay the price set by the monopoly ATC provider
50% of
States
exercise
economic
oversight of
ANSPs
Statistics from ICAO Survey, 2007
50%More
than
50%
20%
Cost-based ATC
charge setting is used
in over half of States
Only 20% of states
enact price-setting
regulations or
competition laws for
ANS
Subsidy is required, where cost
can’t be recovered
€€€€€• High cost ANS
• Limited innovation
• Airport has no say
50%
5
Subsidy is required for many airports, particularly
smaller ones with insufficient traffic to cover costs
67% of airports
operate at a
loss
Statistics from ACI Economics report 2013
6
Privatisation will create pressure on costs, but
pressure increases with disruptive technologies
• British Telecom (BT) a
monopoly until 1984
• Network infrastructure
now ‘open’
• BT maintains 37%
market share but
market has been
eroded
Source: Ofcom
62% of 16-45
year olds admit
to never using
their home phone (source
cable.co.uk)
7
For example, the proliferation of mobile phones has
driven down cost of telecoms
Source: ThisIsMoney.co.uk
25p
/min
0.8p
/min
8
Could remote towers be the equivalent of the
mobile phone for aerodrome ATC?
Remote Tower Module
Video images of airport
The ATC service is
decoupled from the
airport location
Controller location is
an independent
decision
9
Remote towers could lower the cost of ATC by…
removing the capital costs of towers
Tower projects
Movements
(2014) Country
Price
($m) year
Atlanta 868,359USA 44.2 2006
Tivat 5294Montenegro 11.1 2015
London Southend 30514UK 4.58 2011
Recife 83638Brazil 6.01 2011
Birmingham 97346UK 15.3 2013
Mangalore 11501India 3.1 2015
Taoyuan 208874China 26.2 2013
La Palma 19455Spain 2 2012
Gold Coast Airport 90000Australia 2.3 2012
Lokichogia Airport 14000Kenya 1.18 2008
Bogota El Dorado 304330Colombia 30 2013
Manchester, New Hampshire 93000USA 50
Heathrow 470695UK 76.81 2007
Sofia 42120Bulgaria 7.5M 2012
10Remote Tower Centre
Airport 1Airport 2Airport 1
Remote towers could lower the cost of ATC by…
lowering operating costs
Airport 2 Airport 3
0.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.004.505.00
0 5 10 15 20 25
Scale effects on airport air
traffic controller productivity
Average ATCOs per unit
IFR f
lights
per
contr
oller
hour
Saab
11
Remote towers could lower the cost of ATC by…
providing more flexible pricing options
ATC
cost
Movements
12
But would these cost savings be passed on to the
airport or airlines?
13
Conclusions
Privatisation and deregulation will create pressure
on costs as will a disruptive technology like remote
towers, but for the airport ATC market to develop
both are needed
www.askhelios.com
For regular updates follow us on
Management and technology consultants
James Hanson
