It is very important to understand that since 1999. the airspace of Kosovo province is not under direct supervision of ACC Beograd. This is the arrea NATO-UNMIK protectorate, so all ATC operations are provided by NATO Controllers. Only traffic
originating from or arriving to Pristina (LYPR / PRN) may enter airspace of Kosovo province. Other traffic, in enroute flight phase, should always avoid this province, except NATO flights, flying in Lower airspace.
Traffic
arriving to or originating from Pristina should always enter/exit airspace of Kosovo from/to the south, via Skopje FIR (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia-FYROM). The entry point is XAXAN, the exit point is SARAX. (XAXAN can also be exit point but only with ATC authorization). Entering/exiting airspace of Kosovo from/to Beograd ACC is not approved (some special flights, with VIP aboard, arriving/departing Pristina, may enter/exit Kosovo province via BLC (Blace) VORDME 116.1 MHz, but only with ATC authorization).
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| Kosovo Lower Airspace |
Kosovo Upper Airspace |
Kosovo Enter/Exit point |
If you look the chart of Upper airspace, you may see that all airways above Kosovo are closed. There are three possible routes for avoiding Air Safety Zone. The first option is to choose the UL617/UN128 airways. As you can see these two airways merge and become one airway at the part from VAGEN to RAXAD. Flying this airway you will avoid Kosovo province close to the east and reach FIR Skopje at RAXAD point. The second solution is to choose airways UN732 and UL604 . Flying these airways you will avoid Kosovo province to the west, and then over FIR Tirana ( Albania ) you will reach Skopje FIR. The last solution is to choose airways UN132 (MODRA-ALELU) for EASTBOUND only and UM127 (ALELU-BEDAK) for WESTBOUND only.
Flying these airways will avoid Kosovo to the west via Albanian airspace, like in second solution, but this time even closer to the restricted airspace. All these routes are also available in LOWER airspace (L617, N128, N732, L604, N132, M127) . The Only difference between lower and Upper airspace is that there are two airways over Kosovo that do not exists in Upper Airspace. They can ONLY be used for NATO flights and they are: eastbound M867 at the part from MODRA to KOGAT and westbound L608 at the part from LONTA to BEDAK. They can be used both for enroute NATO traffic and NATO traffic arriving or originating Pristina (LYPR / PRN).
Here is a short overview of important procedures for Kosovo Province, that follow the real world procedures and have been agreed with VATEUD.
1. Airspace of Kosovo province, along with Pristina airport (LYPR / PRN) is not under supervision of Beograd ACC. Every pilot flying to/from Pristina should not contact our Controllers when he's above Kosovo province.
2. All flights arriving to Pristina may only enter Belgrade FIR if their arriving ICAO is LYPR. Flights with BKPR as their Arrival ICAO will not be provided ATC service inside Belgrade FIR.
3. Airspace of Kosovo province is RESTRICTED ZONE for all civilian enroute traffic , so every pilot should always avoid this airspace.
4. Only traffic arriving to or originating from Pristina airport (LYPR / PRN) is allowed to enter this zone, but only from/to SOUTH over FIR Skopje ( Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ). Enter point is XAXAN , exit point is SARAX (some special flights, with VIP aboard, arriving/departing Pristina, may enter/exit Kosovo province via BLC (Blace) VORDME 116.1 MHz, but only with ATC authorization).
5. Routes for surrounding Air Safety Zone:
Upper Airspace: |
UL617/UN128 (BI-DIRECTIONAL)
UN732 - UL604 (BI-DIRECTIONAL)
UN132 (UNI-DIRECTIONAL, EASTBOUND)
UM127 (UNI-DIRECTIONAL, WESTBOUND)
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Lower Airspace: |
L617/N128 (BI-DIRECTIONAL)
N732- L604 (BI-DIRECTIONAL)
N132 (UNI-DIRECTIONAL, EASTBOUND)
M127 (UNI-DIRECTIONAL, WESTBOUND)
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5. ONLY for NATO flights, flying in LOWER airspace, there are two more available routes, which can be used both for enroute NATO traffic and NATO traffic arriving to or originating from Pristina (LYPR / PRN):M867 at the part from MODRA to KOGAT (eastbound) and L608 at the part from LONTA to BEDAK (westbound)
