Eurocontrol boss to discuss reform of civil aviation

EUROCONTROL’S head of Network Management Joe Sultana arrives in Cyprus next week to discuss ways to implement plans to restructure the Civil Aviation Department to become an independent state service.

President Nicos Anastasiades’ adviser on air transport issues, Christos Petrou, told the Cyprus News Agency that Sultana will be here on December 19 to hold a series of meetings with two civil aviation trade unions, representatives of the air traffic controllers’ association and the management of the civil aviation department.

Petrou said that the department’s restructuring plan could be completed during the summer of 2014.

The first priority is to restructure the division that deals with air navigation whose employees — air traffic controllers and their assistants — will be transferred to the new organisation, which will be independent, state-owned and operate as a private company.

Petrou explained that all operation costs of the new organisation will be self-financed, covered by the route charges collected from airlines using the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR). In 2012, this amount reached €42m.

The aim of the reforms is for Cyprus to have a high standard service provider, said Petrou, adding that the goal was to become a centre providing air traffic consulting services and training as well.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.