Historic record: 2,969 aircraft in one day

SMATSA LLC has been among the very best Air Navigation Service Providers in Europe this year

Historic record: 2,969 aircraft in one day

10.09.2015

“Nikola Tesla” Airport acquires a new tower
This year, SMATSA LLC expects to have 55,000 overflights more than the last year, thereby breaking all overflight records for our airspace

The project of Tivat Control Tower reconstruction, worth around four million Euros, is scheduled to commence in two weeks and to be completed within nine months. The preparations for installation of two radars on the territory of Serbia are in progress. Primary and Secondary radar on “Besna kobila” near Vranje, to be used by Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services SMATSA LLC and the Serbian Armed Forces, and the Terminal radar at Belgrade airport. This investment, exceeding five million Euros, “will cover” the sky above the whole Balkan Peninsula. The construction of a new tower in Surcin, with the height between 60 and 80 meters, will begin next year. The exact height will be stated in the preliminary design, which should be completed by the end of this year. The estimated value of this project is about 15 million Euros.

SMATSA LLC CEO, Mr. Radojica Rovcanin, has stated for the newspaper “Novosti’’ that these are the most important investments planned for this and the next year.

– We will build one more symbol of Belgrade, on our parcel positioned on the corner in front of the Air Traffic Control Center – says Rovcanin. – The tower will be connected with the Air Traffic Control Center by the tunnel. It will be a magnificent building possessing state-of-the-art equipment. The plan is to finish the work in one year. The only joint institution of the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, which has continued to exist, has, this year, moved from the second place to the very first one among the best Air Navigation Service Providers in Europe, both in terms of the safety of air navigation, and in terms of the record increase in the number of overflights.

On August 29th, 2,969 airplanes flew in the sky above Serbia and Montenegro, whereas the best day last year recorded 2,619 aircraft. Our controllers provided service to 216 aircraft, in one hour, which is again a record in relation to the busiest hour of the previous years, when 185 aircraft were recorded. Total of about 600,000 overflights is expected in this year, which is for about 55,000 aircraft more than during the last year.

 

PILOT TRAINING

– 130 students, future pilots, who pay for their education, are currently being trained at SMATSA LLC Aviation Academy in Vrsac, thus making our capacities filled one hundred percent – says Rovcanin. – We are performing callibration services, i.e. aerial inspection of the measuring instruments on the ground, for the purpose of which we used to possess two planes, one of which we have sold above the purchase price. We had purchased that “King Air” for eight, and sold it for 9.1 million Euros.

 

Source: “Vecernje Novosti” / T. Spalevic / 10/09/2015