Atceuc urges action over Cyprus air traffic coordination and safety risks

Nicosia, Cyprus. The air traffic controllers’ European unions coordination (Atceuc) has called on authorities in Cyprus, Turkey and the European Union, as well as the International Civil Aviation Organization, to pursue high-level engagement over air traffic coordination and flight safety concerns.

The organisation said a reported near miss involving a Tui Airways passenger aircraft and a Turkish air force transport plane highlighted persistent safety risks in the Nicosia flight information region.

Call for technical solution

Atceuc said the European Commission’s directorate-general for mobility and transport (DG-Move) had described the situation in a 2012 letter to its chairman Volker Dick as “unsustainable and unacceptable from a flight safety point of view”.

It said that 14 years later, the assessment remained relevant and that commitments to work with relevant parties on a satisfactory technical solution had not produced the outcome required for aviation safety.

Atceuc added that the European Commission’s repeated commitments to a technical solution had reached a dead end.

Implementation concerns

The organisation said the situation had deteriorated significantly since 2012.

It said a framework established by the International Civil Aviation Organization to address the issue had not been effectively implemented by all relevant authorities, allowing conditions described as unsustainable and unacceptable from a flight safety perspective to continue.

Reported near miss

Atceuc said a Turkish air force Airbus A400M military transport aircraft entered the Nicosia flight information region without establishing communication and followed a trajectory different from its declared flight plan.

According to Atceuc, the aircraft climbed towards 36,000 feet while a British Tui Airways Boeing 737 passenger jet was descending towards 35,000 feet on a converging trajectory.

It said air traffic control officers at Nicosia’s area control centre identified the conflict and instructed the Boeing 737 to halt its descent, preventing a serious incident.

Operations near Cypriot aerodromes

Atceuc said Turkish military aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles continued to operate near critical routes and Cyprus’ two main aerodromes, Larnaca and Paphos, in circumstances it said were not aligned with International Civil Aviation Organization regulations.