NATO announced new air routes are to be established over Kosovo. These routes will be in the so-called “lower airspace”.
“This is an important achievement in the normalization of the lower airspace over Kosovo, which has been carried out with support through NATO’s Balkans Aviation Normalization process,” reads the statement issued by NATO on Friday.
According to NATO, it will help to significantly improve the civil air traffic routing to and from Prishtina airport, with multiple benefits including faster travel, lower fuel consumption, and reduced pollution.
NATO has been supporting the process of normalizing the use of the airspace over Kosovo since 1999, by leading the Balkans Aviation Normalizations Meetings.
These meetings are regularly attended by representatives of Allied countries, air navigation authorities, national military authorities, and relevant international organizations, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the European Aviation Safety Agency, and EUROCONTROL amongst others.
In 2014, the upper airspace over Kosovo was reopened. Hungary’s Air Navigation Service Provider (HUNGAROCONTROL) undertook responsibility to control flights above 21.000 feet.
In recent years, NATO has through the Balkans Aviation Normalization Meetings facilitated the formalization of a Framework Agreement between KFOR and Iceland.
“Iceland’s Transport Safety Agency (ICETRA) is now acting as a Safety Oversight Function in support of the KFOR Commander, who retains primary authority for the use of the airspace over Kosovo. It performs the scrutiny of all the technical solutions that allow for the establishment of new direct routes, in the lower airspace, between Prishtina and other cities,” NATO said.
Through the Icelandic Transport Safety Agency’s contribution, technical agreements have also been signed between the Albanian Air Navigation Service Provider (Albcontrol) and the Air Navigation Service Provider in Prishtina (ASHNA), for the establishment of new direct routes to Prishtina through Albania.
This allows for shorter routes for airlines coming from the north, with benefits of time and fuel savings and lower levels of air pollution.
