Having won the tender to build the new Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, Senegal, the Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) has signed a contract valued at €11.6 M with SELEX Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica company, for the supply of the airport’s air traffic control systems.

The agreement includes a tower control centre provided by SELEX Sistemi Integrati equipped with nine workstations (two for the simulator), a control system for the air ground movements (SMR), radio and weather systems and an automatic system for the digital communication Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network (AFTN), naval aids and a double fiber optic ring for the communication. The supply also includes the necessary training of the Senegalese controllers and will be completed by June 2010.

The new Blaise Diane Airport will have an initial capacity of 4 million passengers per year and is expected to be dealing with the movement of 50,000 aircraft in 2020. The airport will replace the Sedar Sengor airport and is scheduled to be completed by July 2010. It will be equipped with SELEX Sistemi Integrati products that the company will supply in order to cope with the increasing air traffic control requirements.