Newcastle Airport invests in air traffic control tech

Newcastle International Airport has made a significant investment in updating its air traffic control systems and ensure the region’s airspace is safer.

The system, which has been certified by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) replaces older equipment, supporting the airport’s main radar.

It is known as Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) and relies on five radar sites across the North East, including Alnwick, Otterburn, High Spen and Sunderland.

The system gathers information from aircraft such as the aircraft’s identification and altitude and receives replies at all of the sites.

This allows the system to accurately fix the position of the aircraft within Newcastle Airport airspace and pass this information onto air traffic controllers on the ground.

It covers airspace from Newcastle International’s runway out to 90 Nautical Miles (NM) in range which equates to 25,000 square miles of coverage up to 50,000 feet.

Richard Knight, operations director at Newcastle Airport, said: “This is an important project which ensures that Newcastle International Airport has the best available technology. We’ve worked closely with ERA, an international company credited with the invention of the WAM technology and we’re delighted that the system has been accredited by the CAA.

“This, alongside significant investments such as a new Instrument Landing System (ILS) and ongoing investment in the Air Traffic Control Tower, demonstrates the airport’s commitment to safety and progress.”

WAM is the latest in SSR technology which is fully compliant with the Single European Skies initiatives, approved by the CAA for use at Newcastle. It is wind farm tolerant, offering less interference from wind turbines due to the geography of receiving sites.