Update on Military dimension of the plan
The activities of the National Military Authorities are predominately executed over the National airspace. The cooperation between the national Civil and Military Authorities is excellent and the effect on civil aviation is minimal.
Over the high seas however, which constitute the majority of the Nicosia FIR, a number of foreign Military authorities, most commonly the USA Navy, Israeli Air Force, British Air Force and Turkish military forces, regularly performed operational flights and exercises throughout 2020.
The activities of the British forces were coordinated with the national authorities (AMC) and there was minimal effect on ATS. Likewise, the cooperation with the Israeli authorities is also very good and the impact on ATS is minimised.
By far the biggest problem remains with the Turkish forces which do not cooperate at all with the legal authorities of the State. The Turkish air force carried out exercises and operational flights within Nicosia FIR, at times even penetrating Cyprus National airspace, in violation to ICAO procedures thus increasing the workload on ATC staff and hence having a detrimental effect on airspace capacity.
The political unrest in the South East Mediterranean region gave rise to the number of USA and Russian operational flights (OAT). These flights were rarely coordinated with the ATS authorities thus causing additional workload to ACC staff. Nevertheless, the situation in 2020 was better than previous years, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, better coordination with British and Israeli military authorities and fewer operations of aircraft carriers south of Cyprus.
Military - related measures implemented or planned to improve environment and capacity
There will be continuous efforts to improve further the coordination with third country military authorities using the Nicosia FIR.
Initiatives implemented or planned to improve PI#6
The NSA regularly emphasises, to the entity responsible for the tactical management of the airspace (AMC), the need to monitor the planned Vs the actual times of airspace reservations so as to promote the most effective use of reserved or segregated airspace. In the context of its oversight inspections it has raised a number of findings in order to drive positive change and to achieve this goal. As a result, improvements have been made. For example, real time activation / de-activation of reserved areas is now implemented through the establishment of real time communications between the ATC Units and Military authorities.
Initiatives implemented or planned to improve PI#7
No data available.
Initiatives implemented or planned to improve PI#8
No data available.