The remote towers market, from public sources
Who builds remote and digital towers, who runs them, where they are and how fast they are spreading, counted from 115 sourced sites. Paid market reports publish dollar sizes; their methods are not public, so we do not repeat them. Every number here links back to a site and its sources.
Counts above leave out 10 hybrid, contingency and test sites. What is missing.
Vendors by number of sites
All vendors| Vendor | Home | Sites | Operational | Trial | Planned | Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saab | Sweden | 33 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
| Kongsberg | Norway | 25 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Indra | Spain | 25 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| Frequentis | Austria | 22 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Searidge Technologies | Canada | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Adacel | Canada | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| FerroNATS | Spain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| OKI | Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
A site can name more than one vendor. Counts include all site types.
Biggest buyers (service providers)
- Avinor 24 sites
- LFV 10 sites
- DFS and DFS Aviation Services 8 sites
- Fintraffic ANS 8 sites
- NATS 5 sites
- EANS 5 sites
- Airservices Australia 5 sites
- skeyes 4 sites
- IAA (Irish Aviation Authority) 3 sites
- LVNL 3 sites
- DSNA 3 sites
- FAA 3 sites
Countries with the most sites
| Country | Sites | Op. | Trial | Planned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 |
| Sweden | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
| United Kingdom | 9 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Germany | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| Finland | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| United States | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Estonia | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Australia | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Belgium | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Ireland | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| France | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Romania | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Spain | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Go-lives by year
TimelineDated events whose source wording reads as a start of service. A site can have more than one.
Latest contracts and announcements
All- 21 Sep 2026Saab announces a 15-year service contract for remote ATC at Stockholm-Västerås Stockholm-Västerås Airport saab.com
- 5 Mar 2024Airservices announces a purpose-built digital aerodrome service for Western Sydney Western Sydney International Airport airservicesaustralia.com
- 5 Mar 2024Centre announced for Western Sydney Airservices Digital Aerodrome Service centre, Eastern Creek airservicesaustralia.com
- 28 Feb 2022OKI announces delivery of the RVA-19 system to the Civil Aviation Bureau Amami Airport (remote aerodrome air-ground service) oki.com
- 8 Feb 2022Saab receives order for the digital tower (customer: UTI-led consortium; ROMATSA operates the service) Brașov-Ghimbav International Airport saab.com
- Oct 2020Kongsberg selected to supply the remote tower system (delivery expected 2021) Menorca Airport kongsberg.com
- 15 Nov 2019Airservices selects Searidge for a prototype digital tower at Sydney Sydney Airport (digital tower prototype) canso.org
- 27 Feb 2019Airways awards Frequentis the contract for the first New Zealand digital tower Invercargill Airport airport-technology.com
- 30 Nov 2017Prototype digital tower trial announced at Auckland Auckland Airport (digital tower contingency) internationalairportreview.com
- 9 Mar 2016DSNA selects Searidge's remote tower for Miquelon, to be controlled from Saint-Pierre Miquelon Airport (remote from Saint-Pierre) militaryaerospace.com
United States
TrackerThe FAA FY27 Contract Tower Competitive Grant Program lists FAA-certified digital towers as eligible, with up to $100 million this year. FAA guidance PGL 26-06 (28 September 2026) explains when airport grant money can fund a digital tower. FAA grant program · PGL 26-06
Where the market could go
Our hypothetical future-state view applies published rules to public data on 15,304 airports: 4,397 with no tower meet a remote service rule, 1,921 with a tower fit a tier, and 633 shared centres could serve them. That counts places, not sales. Counts by region and tier.