The United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to update the Special Federal Aviation Regulations (SFAR) No. 113 that imposes restrictions on operation of flights by American flight operators in the airspace in which Ukraine is responsible for providing air navigation services on 27 October 2020. The document states that Ukraine has introduced effective measures to ensure the safety of civil aviation in the Simferopol flight information region (FIR), particularly in the international airspace in which Ukraine is responsible for providing air navigation services.

This was announced in a statement on the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, the CFTS portal reports.

According to the statement, an analysis of risk management monitoring reports over the past 3.5 years shows that the number of cases with potential impact on flight safety associated with Russian aggression in Ukraine has dropped to almost zero because of targeted efforts by Ukraine.

However, the airspace over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was and remains inaccessible for planning and performance of flights in accordance with the decision of Ukraine’s State Aviation Service.

"The conclusions by the FAA, which is one of the world's most authoritative aviation safety regulators, regarding adequate level of safety in the international airspace over the high seas are another very important recognition for the entire world’s aviation community. They are based on a professional assessment of the set of measures that were implemented to minimize threats and the level of flight safety in the western part of the Simferopol flight information region," said Andrii Yarmak, the head of the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE).

In addition, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, the FAA has extended for another year the current ban on American civilian flight operators from flying in the eastern part of the Dnipro flight information region because the continuing risks to civil aviation associated with the Russian military aggression in the Donbas.

As reported earlier, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published an updated EASA Safety Information Bulletin SIB 2015-16R3 (Safety Information Bulletin) on the safe use of six routes (L851, M856, M860, M854, M435, and M861) on August 31. The EASA recommends that airspace users use the routes for planning flights over the Black Sea, where the responsibility for Air Traffic Services is delegated to Ukraine. 

The number of routes in the Simferopol FIR thus increased from 2 to 6.