Balkans put greater emphasis on NATO, EU air traffic regulations

Balkans put greater emphasis on NATO, EU air traffic regulations

Regional countries try to avoid confusion over Russia's attempt to create a new flight region including Crimea and parts of Ukraine.

Balkan aviation authorities are following NATO and EU air traffic regulations more cautiously after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine, officials said.

NATO regulations regulate the airspace over Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

Balkan civil aviation authority officials said they communicate daily with NATO.

"Everything that is undertaken is done with a unique goal to improve security, and the main focus is on the responsibility of states to provide reports of potential risks in some of the conflict areas," Dejan Mojsovski, director of the Macedonian Civil Aviation Agency, told SETimes.

The US Federal Aviation Administration issued a special note on the potentially dangerous situation in Ukrainian airspace, particularly over Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

"[There is a] potential for conflicting air-traffic control instructions from Ukrainian and Russian authorities, and the potential for misidentification of civil aircraft," it said.

Russia is trying to establish a new flight information region that includes airspace over Crimea and the international airspace now managed from Ukraine, resulting in conflicting instructions to pilots.

"Air carriers are required to follow instructions, but deal with other issues with the relevant air traffic control authorities," Eduard Sostaric, spokesman for the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency, told SETimes.

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