In recent years, the rapid development of remote tower in the world provides a new development idea for the airports with poor natural environment, poor visibility conditions and deficient human resources. the research and application of remote tower operation abroad are summarized by a literature review. The results show that the research of remote tower operation belongs to the field of human-machine-system, and the operation and technical system should be implemented based on ergonomics. Compared with advanced level abroad, the research and application of remote tower operation is still in the following stage in China, the integration of technical system is relatively mature, but a large number of technical index tests and verifications based on air traffic control ergonomics need to be carried out urgently. Finally, suggestions are given from the aspects of strengthening the research on human performance of remote tower operation, speeding up the construction of rules and standards, and standardizing remote tower supervision.