The situation in Ukraine has further burdened the air traffic in the skies of Bulgaria. Before the invasion, about 1100-1200 planes flew over our country daily, and now the flights are between 1500-1700.
In the air traffic control room, all measures have been taken to change air traffic since the start of the war, as before the pandemic they served more than 4,000 flights a day.
Since the beginning of the strikes, they have led to a 20% increase in traffic in the skies over Bulgaria, as large airspace in Ukraine, Moldova, Russia and Belarus has to be bypassed by airlines.
“We now expect a further increase in traffic due to Russia’s reciprocal measures and the ban on European airlines flying over their airspace.
This is up to 100 more planes in our airspace on a daily basis, “Georgi Peev, director general of the Interior Ministry, told bTV.
With a ban on Russian airlines flying over the EU, can they do so if they re-register aircraft?
“I do not think it is possible.
Air traffic controllers use mathematical models to provide the required sectors and the number of air traffic controllers.
“At the moment, we are confident that we can cover all kinds of events in our airspace,” Peev added.
Despite the increased military activity in the Black Sea region, no violation of our airspace is allowed
“There have been many cases of foreign aircraft approaching our sovereign airspace, but it has never been violated,” Peev explained.
The ATC is in direct coordination with the Air Force, neighboring air traffic control authorities, NATO and Eurocontrol to ensure the safe flight of civilian aircraft in the region.
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