News Aviation Conference Has Been Successfully Concluded

On December 8, 2014, in Pristina, the Civil Aviation Authority, supported by the operator of ANP Adem Jashari, organized a conference dedicated to civil aviation in Kosovo entitled “Opportunities and challenges of civil Aviation in Kosovo”.

The conference was held on the occasion of 7 December – International Civil Aviation Day and the 100th anniversary of the first commercial flight. Conference attendees included representatives of relevant public institutions, the aviation industry, representatives of several embassies and foreign guests.

The conference was opened by the Kosovo Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Fehmi Mujota, who congratulated the participants of the aviation community for their international day, stating: “The most valuable asset of the Republic of Kosovo in the aviation field are its people who love this job and carry it out daily with dedication and high professionalism. I am proud of the Civil Aviation Authority, Prishtina Airport and Air Navigation Service Agency staff, who, along with numerous personnel from airline companies guarantee safe services in accordance with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization and legal framework of the EU.” Mr. Mujota revealed that next year Kosovo will host the Joint Committee meeting of the European Common Aviation Area, as he expressed his expectation that Kosovo would go into Phase II of this Agreement.

The three topics discussed in panel form were:

– The Republic of Kosovo’s membership in international aviation organizations and integration into the European Common Aviation Area with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of European Integration.

– Normalization of aerospace and general aviation development in Kosovo with representatives from PIA Adem Jashari – ATC, KFOR, Kosovo Aeronautical Federation and the Civil Aviation Authority.

– Traffic development, human resources and infrastructure development at Prishtina Iinternational Airport with representatives from the Department of Public-Private Partnership of the Ministry of Finance, PIA Adem Jashari LKIA and Adria Airways.

All three panel sessions of the debate raised interest and were characterized by interesting questions from the audience.

An interesting part of the conference were the presentations of the three guest speakers. Mr. Cavan Fabris, Economic and Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Prishtina, spoke to US Government involvement in the development of the civil aviation sector including the process of public-private partnership at PIA, considering it one of the best concessions and a model that is worth consulting.  He encouraged those present to take advantage of aviation for economic growth.

Mr. Omer Pita from Croatian Civil Aviation Agency presented the difficult but successful path of his agency to be transformed from an agency with open findings from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in 2008 into one of the best civil aviation regulatory agency in the EU.  He said that for these achievements key were operational and financial independence and a competitive compensation scheme.

Mr. Walter Reimann, VP for International and Aeropolitical Affairs at Austrian Airlines, gave an overview of his company, its focus to the East and history of presence in Kosovo.

Civil Aviation Authority will publish a full conference report including its conclusions on its next monthly bulletin in early January.