Currently, traffic to and from Copenhagen Airport is controlled from two different towers: an apron tower for controlling local ground traffic, located near the terminal buildings, and the air traffic control tower located near the runway complex. Taxiing traffic between the gate parking area and the runways is controlled from the apron tower, while approaching and departing flights are controlled from the control tower. The apron tower and the control tower will be integrated in the new control tower so that take-offs, landings and taxiing traffic will be controlled from a single location. The air traffic controllers will have a completely new information processing system to support this work, a system that has been developed in cooperation with the Canadian civil air navigation services provider NAV Canada. The Danish version of the system is called NITOS, Naviair Integrated Tower Operating System. Briefly, NITOS is an electronic system for recording and coordinating traffic movements in and around Copenhagen Airport.

The technology behind NITOS is called the Integrated Information Display System/Extended Computer Display System (IIDS/EXCDS). Currently all flights are recorded on a flight progress strip as soon as they fly into Danish airspace. This strip is a little piece of paper on which the air traffic controller notes flight data, for example, such as, route and airline. As the aircraft move through Danish airspace and approaches for landing, this strip is handed over from controller to controller, who in this way can keep track of traffic movements. The new technology does away with the old-fashioned paper strips, which are replaced by advanced technology. In this way the NITOS system can ensure that the handover of aircraft from controller to controller takes place as smoothly as possible so that the air traffic is handled in the safest and most efficient way. LINKS: > NAV Canada's homepage, “technology solutions” > Copenhagen Airport: New tower stuffed with new technology (only in Danish)