London Area Control Centre

LACC shares the Swanwick site with the London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC), which moved there in 2007.

[1] AC-based controllers provide air traffic services mainly within the London Flight Information Region (FIR).

This LAG is responsible for the largest amount of airspace within AC, extending from the West of Bournemouth down across the Western approaches and up into the south of Wales.

TC is largely responsible for dealing with aircraft inbound/outbound to airports in the London TMA, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

It is also responsible for handling lower level enroute traffic in airspace surrounding the main London TMA up to FL245 (24,500 feet [7,468 m]).

This airspace is split into two groups or banks, TC North and TC South, which not only relates to the position of the airspace sector relative to London Heathrow, but also the direction in the Terminal Control Room in which that sector's controllers face when at their radar consoles.

Arrivals to the London airports are handed over from LACC at Swanwick or the TC en-route sectors, usually following STARs and are descended against the departing traffic, sorted out into different levels, and routed to various holds (generally at the end of STARs), where they will hold until the approach control units are ready to position them into an approach sequence to land.

Slightly unusual to the approach units at TC is that some of the INT (Intermediate Approach) sectors can be staffed by two controllers at a time, making transmissions on the same frequency in the following fashion: This allows both controllers to maintain greater situational awareness, whilst limiting unnecessary frequency changes.

City's approach control unit is known as TC Thames because its holding stacks are also used by Biggin Hill traffic.

In addition, Thames has responsibility for some Southend and all low-level London CTR traffic (the latter due to its much lower workload, compared to the Heathrow sectors).

TC is slightly unusual for a Terminal Control Centre in that it also has a number of en-route sectors responsible for lower levels of airspace on the outside, on top of and in the outer parts of the TMA.