King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, right, walks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as they inspect honor guards during their meeting at the presidential palace in Bogor, Indonesia, Monday, May 22, 2017. Both leaders also observed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the transportation sector, including air navigation, and airport services. Darren Whiteside/Pool Photo via AP

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia`s Air Navigation DG is cooperating with the Swedish Aviation Authority to develop a digital aviation navigation system.

The Transportation Ministry's Air Navigation director general Yudhi Sari Sitompul said in a written statement Thursday, November 9, that Indonesia's air navigation needs to be digitized based on the increasing movement or air traffic with diverse distribution.

One of the indicators is the inclusion of Soekarno-Hatta Airport as one of the world's 20 busiest airports by the Airport Council International (ACI), for the period of 2010 to 2015.

"We welcome the partnership with the Swedish Government because we have more than 250 small and large airports with flight navigation systems that require technology support," he said, adding that the system will support the safety, smoothness, and comfort of flight and efficiency airport operations in Indonesia.

According to Yudhi, the operational cost of flight navigation reaches 30-40 percent of airport operational costs. If the flight navigation operational system is equipped with modern digital technology, the cost will go down and airport operations will be more efficient.

"Sweden has developed ATS remote tower technology that has been tested at several airports. They have experience in implementing this remote tower, which we can learn from and share experiences with," he said.

In addition to Sweden, other countries that have tested this remote tower technology successfully are Australia, USA, Netherlands, Norway, and Ireland.

Yudhi hopes that the DG's workshop and AirNav Indonesia can develop a forward concept and find out how much it can discover the advantages and disadvantages of applying an ATC remote tower model in Indonesia.

ANTARA