Hadžić: No Further Postponement of Taking over BIH Skies to Allow



Minister of Communications and Transport of BIH Damir Hadžić met in Sarajevo with General Manger of the Civil Aviation Directorate of BIH (BH DCA) Đorđe Ratkovica Acting Manager of the Air Navigation Service Agency of BIH (BHANSA) Marin Rapudić,   Federal Civil Aviation Directorate (FEDCAD) Manger Amadeo Mandić, and Civil Aviation Directorate of RS (RSCAD) Manger Damir Ćopić, to discuss taking over the regional flight control service in the BH skies.

Minister Hadžić said that Entity Directorates transition and their integration into BHANSA should be accelerated, as regional flight controls and staffs were transferred to the BHANSA. “We have secured EUROCONTORL support, we have budgeted resources, trained controllers and set-up implementation deadlines. We have already lost an amount of money, so any further delays must not take place”, Minister stressed at today’s meeting.

The transition and closing down the Entity Directorates was agreed to finalise by January 1, 2014, which would release Entity budgets from KM 10 million expenditures next year (FBIH-KM 8.5 mil; RS-KM1.5), while BHANSA would be fully prepared to start the process of taking over control over the BIH skies.

With a notable support by Manager of the European Organisation for Air Navigation Safety (EUROCONTROL) Frank Barner, a transition of the BHATM system was included into the EUROCONTROL 2014 Plan. The BHANSA is scheduled to start the Flight Information Service testing in April 2014, while a fully networked joint air control operation with the Croatian Air Navigation Control (CCL) and Flight Control Services of Serbia and Montenegro (SMATSA) is to start in June, and it will operate in the so-called shadow mode.  October 2014 is the deadline for the BHANSA to take over independent flight control over the middle layer of BH skies, and a full air control is planned for October 2015.

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