London City Airport is to become the first British airport to install a digital air traffic control tower and move ATC functions to a remote site. Controllers will be based at a new control room at the NATS facility in Swanwick, Hampshire and remotely control the ATC functions for the airport, east of London. The proposed 50 metre digital tower at the airport will have a panoramic view of the airfield via high definition cameras. It will be connected to the new control room, 110km away, by high speed digital link. “From Swanwick, air traffic controllers will perform their operational role, using the live footage displayed on 14 HD screens that form a seamless panoramic moving image, alongside the audio feed from the airfield, and radar readings from the skies above London, to instruct aircraft and oversee movements,” the airport said. The tower, due to be completed in 2018, will undergo a year of testing and training before it becomes operational sometime in 2019.<br/>
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A computer crash that caused lengthy delays for international passengers at New Zealand and Australian airports has been fixed. Immigration NZ national border manager Senta Jehle said the global Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system went down for three hours on Monday morning, but was up and running again. The APP is used during check-in to confirm whether a passenger is authorised to travel to their destination. "INZ used manual back-up systems, which caused some delays to passengers checking in for flights to and from New Zealand and passengers arriving in New Zealand," Jehle said. Auckland Airport says there are now six flights with minor delays and that passengers should check with their airlines. Wellington Airport was also affected, with the system down between 11am -1.30pm. The airlines check-in process is now back to normal. Aviation expert Irene King said the APP system was brought in 10 to 12 years ago to provide almost-instant checks that passengers were allowed to fly to international destinations. The APP system was "pretty robust" and she could not recall another time it went down, forcing the same checks to be done manually. "To do manual checks you are having to think about how things were done 15 years ago." Airlines who flew people to countries they were not authorised to enter could be fined between $10,000 to $15,000 and also had to then fly the passenger back to where they came from. In Australia passengers at international airports also experienced major delays but the APP system was now operational again. International flights were departing up to 45 minutes behind schedule from Melbourne and about 30 minutes behind schedule from Sydney. <br/>
Internet on flights in India could soon be a reality. The Centre is likely to permit it by August-end. "We're awaiting clearance from the Department of Telecommunications," said Lalit Gupta, joint DG, Directorate General of Civil Aviation. "International airlines are in talks with the aviation ministry. Currently, they have to switch off Wi-Fi in the Indian airspace (where inflight internet is banned on security grounds)." Gupta also said that Indian carriers like Jet Airways and SpiceJet are slated to take deliveries of the Wi-Fi-fitted Boeing 737 MAX by mid-2018. About 70 airlines across the world offer inflight internet. In India, airlines like Jet Airways and Vistara offer a library of preloaded content downloadable onto electronic devices by linking to the aircraft's non-internet Wi-Fi. SpiceJet will give the facility by June-end. <br/>
Boeing has signed several defense and commercial deals with Saudi Arabia including for the sale of military and passenger aircraft, the company said on Sunday during a visit by US President Donald Trump to the kingdom. Boeing said Saudi Arabia agreed to buy Chinook helicopters, associated support services and guided weapons systems, and intends to purchase P-8 surveillance aircraft. The US State Department in December announced plans to sell Saudi Arabia CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters and related equipment, training and support worth $3.51b. Congress was informed last year that a sale to Saudi Arabia would involve 48 of the helicopters. Saudi Arabia is seeking closer defense and commercial ties with the United States under Trump, as it seeks to develop its economy beyond oil and leads a coalition that is fighting a war in Yemen. Boeing also said it would negotiate the sale of up to 16 widebody airplanes to Saudi Gulf Airlines, which is based in the country's east in Dammam. A sale to the privately owned commercial airline is expected to include Boeing 777 and or 787 aircraft, according to a person familiar with the matter. Boeing also will establish a joint venture with Saudi Arabia to provide "sustainment services for a wide range of military platforms," the statement said, including non-Boeing supplied equipment. A separate joint venture would "provide support for both military and commercial helicopters."<br/>