Media reports on permit to fly directly over Crimea erroneous
Mass media reports that flights over Crimea will be resumed are erroneous, Ukraine's Ministry of Infrastructure has reported.
According to a press release from the agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recommended the use of two air routes over the Black Sea, proposed by Ukraine within the measures for the resumption of flights in the area.
Thus, this confirms the readiness of the Ukrainian provider of air navigation services to ensure the appropriate level of air traffic safety in the international airspace, the responsibility for which is placed on Ukraine.
The ministry said that, according to the official Safety Information Bulletin spread by the EASA, two routes, namely L851 and M856, passing through the airspace over the western part of the Black Sea, can be used for flight planning by all airlines. This conclusion is based on the results of the post-implementation monitoring conducted by the UkSATSE (the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise), which indicates that the measures taken to minimize potential risks are effective. During conducting the monitoring not a single case, which would represent a threat to safety, was revealed.
The use of the routes over the Black Sea, recommended by the EASA, will enable air companies to cut costs, and will contribute to easing the load of the air routes in the flight information regions of neighboring countries.
"The EASA exclusively spoke of, in its conclusion, about the routes in the air space over the Black Sea which do not pass over the Crimean territory. The air space over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the territorial waters, remains closed for aircraft flights. Reports from some media outlets that the flights over Crimea will be resumed are erroneous," the ministry said in a statement.
This became known earlier that the EASA recommended that international air carriers consider the possibility of using two air corridors of the Simferopol flight information region, because it saw that the risks to flight safety were lower over Crimea, after the peninsula's rejoining with Russia.
However, the organization said in the bulletin, that Ukraine was the only internationally recognized country to provide for the organization of the air traffic in the Simferopol flight information region. With this in sight, the EASA recommends that air companies use the air navigation information provided by Ukraine (UkSATSE state enterprise provides it).
The ministry has worked for a year on the EASA to make this decision, Ukrainian Deputy Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian said.
"We have restored our right to control one of the most important air corridors for the transit of aircraft across Ukraine's Crimea. This is not only a political victory, but also an economic one. UkSATSE's profit will grow considerably. We have been working on this for a year," Omelian wrote on Facebook.
The EASA had earlier not recommended flights be made over Crimea, due to its rejoining with Russia.