Macedonia Will Profit From Opening of Kosovo's Airspace
April 1, 2014, Tuesday @ 10:58 in Business | Views: 9
Over EUR 2 million additional budget income annually, increased air traffic frequency and lower airline ticket prices are some of the benefits for Macedonia resulting from opening of Kosovo's airspace scheduled for tomorrow, Dnevnik reports.
Since 1999, namely since NATO's bombing of Serbia, the sky over Kosovo has been closed for civilian aircraft overflights. Airliners were not authorized to fly at 8,700 meters or higher, thus the airline companies were forced to take longer routes, which implied higher costs.
Macedonian flight control and aviation authorities have a significant contribution to the project for opening of Kosovo's airspace. They will supply technical support and radar images of the flights in the area. The Hungarian air navigation company, "Hungarocontrol", has been performing air traffic control of flights over Kosovo since 2011, and, as soon as the air space over Kosovo is opened, it will be assisted by their Macedonian colleagues from the Macedonian air navigation company "M-NAV".
The Civil Aviation Agency of Macedonia expects increased frequency of overflights, which means higher income, as well as shorter routes.
"This will attract more airline companies. The competition will increase and influence the airline ticket prices. We expect at least a 20% increase in overflights, a 50% increase in the high season, which will bring an increase in the income for the same percentages. The increased budget will be used for new investment in the aviation sector and for cheaper services", stated Dejan Mojsoski, Director General of the Civil Aviation Agency of Macedonia.
Macedonian air traffic control handles 130,000 overflights in Macedonia's air space on a yearly basis. The opening of Kosovo's airspace is expected to bring 26,000 additional overflights.
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Macedonia Will Profit From Opening of Kosovo's Airspace - Independent.mk