If you are planning for a trip to London in about 2 years – well chances are the air traffic controller won’t be able to see your plane. If you were flying to London City that is.

In fact, they will be 70 miles away in a digital control tower, looking at your plane on a screen via high-tech 360-degree cameras and sensors, with data and a panoramic views all feeding through to the national air traffic control center in the southern town of Swanwick.

The airport, which is undergoing a 350 million pound ($455 million) expansion, is located near the Canary Wharf financial centre in east London and used by over 4.5 million passengers mainly for business travel between Europe’s major centres.

But from 2019, controllers will be based over 110 km away where the airport says an array of digital tools will improve their awareness of situations and efficiency, allowing for quick decision-making.

The current control tower is reaching the end of its operational lifespan, with the new technology already in use at Sweden’s smaller Ornskoldsvik and Sundsvall airports.

Controllers will be equipped with a range of tools including a close-up view of aeroplane movements along the 1.5-km runway and cameras which can zoom in up to 30 times for close inspection.

Pictures from the airfield and data will be sent through independent and secure fibre networks to the operations room in Swanwick, the airport said.

The technology is supplied by Saab Digital Air Traffic Solutions, a partnership between LFV, the Swedish air navigation service provider, and military defense and civil security firm Saab.

The airport is said to see an extra two million people flying to and from it every year by 2025 and an additional 30,000 annual flights.

Construction of the 50-metre digital tower will begin later this year and is due to be completed in 2018, followed by a year of testing and training before it becomes fully operational.