07.11.2020 is the date when 24 years have passed since the opening of Area Control Centre Skopje. In the early morning hours on 07.11.1996, the Area Control Centre Skopje took over the responsibility over the entire airspace of the Republic of Macedonia which was controlled by Belgrade until then in accordance with the division between Air Traffic Controls in Zagreb and Belgrade since the time of SFRY. El Al Israel Airline`s aircraft the destination of which was Tel Aviv, was the first aircraft guided and instructed by our Air Traffic Controllers. Since then, during the past 24 years, the Air Traffic Control has evolved into a modern air traffic control center which operates in compliance with Eurocontrol`s standards, the Member State of which we have been since the year of 1998 and of the European Commission in accordance with ECAA Agreement since the year of 2006.
At the beginning, ten licensed Air Traffic Controllers who were assisted by colleagues from Serbia and Bulgaria provided the air traffic services from a small Area Control Centre with an area of 25 square meters and equipped with only one radar, while today M-NAV operates with almost hundred Air Traffic Controllers, Air Traffic Controller Assistants and with highly qualified and educated technical and supporting aeronautical personnel in charge of providing safe, regular and expeditious services for Skopje and Ohrid Airports, the said personnel is also being in charge of handling the overflights over our Airspace. The service is being provided with integrated data from five radars, three of which are located on our territory and one radar each from Greece and Bulgaria, whereas the data from our radars are being used by our neighboring countries and this is regulated by bilateral agreements.
After separating from Civil Aviation Agency, M-NAV has continued to operate as national Air Navigation Services Provider.
During the most frequent days in the summer season, more than 1000 flights per day are handled, while the year of 2019 saw 230160 flights that used M-NAV`s air navigation services.
The Government-owned Joint Stock Company M-NAV provides also services for the State aircraft of the Ministry of Defense and of the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
Through continuous and proactive participation in the work of international aviation organizations and safety institutions – Eurocontrol, ICAO, CANSO, we are committed to following the existing standards, but also on the implementation of new procedures and work technologies, in order to provide more efficient service for airlines and enhanced environmental protection.
Nowadays, when the whole planet is facing the COVID 19 pandemics and the aviation is one of the most affected industries with prediction of operation normalization even after period of 2-3 years, M-NAV continues to provide air traffic services with utmost professionalism and safety, while the employees` engagement is tailored to the existing work protocols.
During the past 24 years, the system has dealt with a number of operational and similar financial crisis caused by the regional crisis in the year of 1999 when our air space was completely closed due to NATO intervention in Kosovo, the terrorist attacks in the United States in the year of 2001 and the crisis caused by the recession at the end of the past decade.
Besides all hurdles caused by the crisis, the required competence of Air Traffic Controllers and of other aviation personnel was maintained continuously, the operation of air traffic control systems was provided and appropriately the international, strict regulations were implemented as well.
A new ATM system was implemented in the year of 2002 while in the year of 2004 the increased air traffic volume during the Olympic Games held in Athens was handled successfully and Radar Data Exchange was achieved from the radar in Thessaloniki through cooperation with the Air Traffic Control centre in Greece and Automatic Data Exchange was achieved with the Air Traffic Control centres in Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece while this was done with Albania in the year of 2006. Towards the end of the last and the beginning of this decade, the air route structure was successfully adjusted to the conditions of closure of Kosovo Airspace. In the year of 2014, we played an extremely important role in the reopening of the airspace over Kosovo during the multilateral processes conducted by NATO and Eurocontrol, which in 2019 resulted in almost double increase in the number of flights in our country compared to 2013. In the year of 2016, we implemented Free Route Airspace in our airspace, thus integrating into the latest airspace organization of the Eurocontrol`s Member States.
Today, in extremely complex circumstances, we continue to work and we are maximally committed to Projects regarding the implementation of the new ATM system and other radar and communication systems being part of the long-term strategy to upgrade the ATC and are required to ensure an efficient service provision in future in order to handle the estimated air traffic volume. The Air Traffic Controllers`s competence and the competence of the aviation personnel is being maintained, the required trainings are continued. We are also working on plans to expand the Free Route Airspace concept with the adjacent air traffic control centres, something that will increase service efficiency through reducing the length of flight routes, thus reducing fuel consumption and gas emission in the atmosphere.
At the same time, by applying work protocols intended for the operational personnel and for the other personnel, we maintain the required level of service provision, while maximum care is taken to protect and prevent the employees.
With respect,
M-NAV GOJSC Skopje