Two U.S. airports have begun using camera-based digital air traffic systems, while the Federal Aviation Administration has named five more sites as it looks to extend tower services.
The FAA said Nov. 6 that systems are in service at Bartow Executive Airport in Florida and Kenai Municipal Airport in Alaska. It described the deployments as the first operational digital towers in the country. The agency’s program page dates Bartow’s start to September 2026, but gives no start date for Kenai.
Cameras and sensors feed airport views to digital displays, letting controllers monitor runways, taxiways and nearby airspace. The FAA says the equipment adds visual information while controllers retain responsibility for managing traffic. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said digital towers give controllers “greater visibility of airport activity.”
The five locations awaiting systems are Winter Haven Regional Airport and Venice Municipal Airport in Florida, Montgomery County Airpark in Maryland, Johnston Regional Airport in North Carolina, and Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado. The FAA gave no installation dates.
The agency says the systems could provide a less expensive route to tower services for rural and community airports. It identifies $50 million to advance systems at qualified non-towered airports, without giving airport-by-airport amounts or comparisons of construction and operating costs.
The FAA chose a digital tower system made by Frequentis. In September 2026, it issued the first System Design Approval to Frequentis’ smartVISION system for sponsor-owned FAA Contract Tower airports with a single runway and Class D airspace. The agency says more work remains before digital systems can be used at federally owned towers.
The effort follows congressional direction in 2018 to test digital towers. A Frequentis prototype was installed at Atlantic City International Airport in 2022, and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 called for an approval and deployment framework. FAA testing has examined safety and reliability, including equipment failure response and the lag between airfield events and display updates. Installation at the five named airports is the next step, though the agency has not set a schedule.
