China: a hypothetical future state
276 airports assessed. 211 have no tower and meet a tier 1 to 3 rule (0 / 171 / 40). 11 towered airports fit tiers 1 to 3. A hypothetical set of 24 centres covers them. No national traffic table loaded.
Orange, teal, pink and grey dots are suggested tiers. Hollow rings are towered airports that fit a tier. White-ringed orange dots are hypothetical centres. Green outlined dots are remote or digital towers already listed on this site. Basemap: OpenStreetMap data via Protomaps.
What it could enable
- Service where there is none. 211 airports have no tower but meet a traffic or infrastructure rule. Remote service could give them separation or advisory service they cannot justify as a conventional tower. About 259.6 million people live within 50 km of one of them and of no towered airport.
- Fewer, shared positions. 11 towered airports fit tiers 1 to 3. Serving some of them from 24 shared centres could change how towers are staffed, equipped and replaced when they age.
- Different working pattern. A centre of about 9.2 airports lets part-time airports share a controller across the day, and lets busy periods at different airports fall on different positions.
- Awareness for isolated fields. 3 isolated airfields could get surface awareness (cameras and surveillance) without any air traffic service.
- Already moving. 2 airports here are listed on this site as remote or digital (operational, trial or planned). See them.
The gap in numbers
| Tier | No tower today | Towered today |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1: Full remote tower service | 0 | 10 |
| Tier 2: Part-time remote tower | 171 | 1 |
| Tier 3: Remote advisory (AFIS-like) | 40 | 0 |
| Tier 4: Surface awareness only | 3 | n/a |
| Large hub, left alone | n/a | 41 |
- Traffic on gap airports
- 0 passengers (0 airports with a figure)
- Population
- 1.4 billion (World Bank 2024)
- People in cities of 15,000+
- 874.3 million
- Within 50 km of a gap airport
- 350.1 million
- ... and of no towered airport
- 259.6 million
- Near only an isolated airfield
- 125 thousand
- Airports with air-ground service already
- 0 of the gap airports have an AFIS-type frequency listed
Candidate airports
| Airport | Tier | Class | Passengers | Movements | Centre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alxa Left Banner Bayanhot Airport ZBAL · Bayanhot | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Bazhong Enyang Airport ZUBZ · Bazhong | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Shaoguan Danxia Airport ZGSG · Shaoguan | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Jinggangshan Airport ZSGS · Ji'an | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Jiaxing Nanhu Airport ZSJX · Xiuzhou, Hangzhou | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Shigatse Tingri Airport ZUDR · Xigazê (Dingri) | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Tashikuergan Hongqilafu Airport ZWTK · Tashikuergan | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Leshan Airport CN-0249 · Leshan (Wutongqiao) | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Zhaotong Zhaoyang Airport ZPZT · Zhaotong | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Bengbu Tenghu Airport ZSBA · Bengbu | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Langzhong Gucheng Airport ZULA · Nanchong (Langzhong) | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Ninglang Luguhu Airport ZPNL · Ninglang | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Beijing Daxing International Airport ZBAD · Beijing | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Chengde Puning Airport ZBCD · Chengde | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a | |
| Chifeng Yulong Airport ZBCF · Chifeng | Tier 2 | No tower, scheduled passenger service | n/a | n/a |
Hypothetical centres
| Centre site | Airports | Tier 1 / 2 / 3 | Farthest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 40 | 1 / 30 / 9 | 492 km |
| Hefei Xinqiao International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 33 | 4 / 25 / 4 | 490 km |
| Tianjin Binhai International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 22 | 1 / 17 / 4 | 490 km |
| Changchun Longjia International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 15 | 3 / 10 / 2 | 495 km |
| Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 18 | 0 / 14 / 4 | 464 km |
| Kunming Changshui International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 16 | 0 / 14 / 2 | 482 km |
| Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 15 | 0 / 14 / 1 | 497 km |
| Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 13 | 0 / 7 / 6 | 492 km |
| Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 8 | 0 / 6 / 2 | 380 km |
| Hotan Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 7 | 1 / 3 / 3 | 471 km |
| Hulunbuir Hailar Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 5 | 0 / 5 / 0 | 451 km |
| Fuzhou Changle International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 4 | 0 / 4 / 0 | 340 km |
| Jiamusi Songjiang International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 3 | 0 / 3 / 0 | 437 km |
| Wuhan Tianhe International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 3 | 0 / 3 / 0 | 473 km |
| Lhasa Gonggar International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 3 | 0 / 2 / 1 | 408 km |
| Ningbo Lishe International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 1 | 0 / 1 / 0 | 88 km |
| Haikou Meilan International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 1 | 0 / 1 / 0 | 88 km |
| Xichang Qingshan Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 2 | 0 / 1 / 1 | 490 km |
| Xinyuan Nalati Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 1 | 0 / 0 / 1 | 179 km |
| Beijing Capital International Airport Existing staffed tower facility | 1 | 0 / 1 / 0 | 430 km |
| Dunhuang Mogao International Airport New site (no existing facility in range) | 6 | 0 / 6 / 0 | 418 km |
| Qiemo Yudu Airport New site (no existing facility in range) | 2 | 0 / 2 / 0 | 236 km |
| Yushu Batang Airport New site (no existing facility in range) | 2 | 0 / 2 / 0 | 254 km |
| Ngari Gunsa Airport New site (no existing facility in range) | 1 | 0 / 1 / 0 | 0 km |
Responsible implementation
A tier on this page is a starting question. These are the topics any real plan would need to answer. Public guidance:
- EASA ED Decision 2023/005/R, guidance material on remote aerodrome air traffic services
- UK CAA: remote aerodrome air traffic services (CAP 670 and approval policy)
- EUROCAE ED-240A, minimum performance standards for remote tower optical systems
- FAA Digital Tower Systems page
- FAA AIP Program Guidance Letter 26-06 (design approval is not operational approval)
- ICAO Doc 4444, PANS-ATM, the procedures that remote services must still meet
Safety case and regulator approval
Each service needs its own safety case and approval before it carries traffic. A design approval for equipment is a different step from permission to run a service. The regulator named in this site's records for China: CAAC.
Controller workforce and training
Remote work changes the job: new displays, new failure modes, and new competence checks. A plan would cover who moves, who trains, how existing controllers choose, and what happens to current staff and their conditions.
Communications and surveillance
Radio, video and surveillance links must meet the latency and quality the safety case assumes. Tier 1 and 2 airports need reliable cameras, redundant links and a surveillance picture for traffic that radar or ADS-B cannot see from the ground.
Contingency and redundancy
Every centre needs a fallback: a second path for data, a backup position, and a rule for what the airport does when a link fails (hold, divert, revert to advisory). Centres that serve many airports need a plan for losing all of them at once.
Cybersecurity
A centre is a single high-value target. It needs the same protections as other air traffic systems: segmented networks, supply-chain checks, logging, and tested recovery.
Community and labour engagement
Airports, airlines, pilots, unions, local governments and neighbours should be in the process before decisions, not after. Jobs can move away from small airports, and that is a real cost to a community.
Sources
- OurAirports: airports, runways, frequencies.
- GeoNames cities of 15,000 or more; World Bank population.
Towers already listed for China: remote and digital sites in China.