Serbia-Montenegro controllers issue strike threat

NEWS FLASH


One of the two unions representing air traffic controllers in Serbia and Montenegro has said it could stage industrial action if workplace conditions are not improved. The warning came ahead of talks with the Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency (SMATSA) over a new collective bargaining agreement. In a statement, the union said, “For a long time, SMATSA has not been enforcing standard operative procedures related to stress among air traffic controllers. Contrary to the law, work hours are changed with little notice. These erratic alterations are so frequent that they can have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of employees. Work hours are unchanged both during peak season and other times of the year, leading to exhaustion. Controllers do not have necessary rest periods”. For its part, SMATSA said the safety of aircraft and passengers overlying territory under its control has not been compromised and that claims made by one of the unions representing air traffic controllers are to secure a better negotiating position ahead of collective bargaining agreement talks.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10:34

    So basically the same as in Hungary. Hungarocontrol went on a strike a while ago citing same problems. I guess ATC around Europe has not followed increase in traffic that took place in European skies. I also noticed that many LO flights to BEG are actually routed via Romania and Slovakia bypassing Hungary.

    Both Hungary and Serbia are big transit airspaces.

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  2. Anonymous11:23

    It was just a matter of time, whole Europe has understaffed ATC and pretty common strikes for these same reasons.

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  3. Anonymous13:15

    Maybe Bosnia can take over their airspace now? :P

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  4. Anonymous14:25

    Montenegro needs to get its own ATC service.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous16:06

      Why? What's wrong with the current setup?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous04:36

      Absolutely nothing,it works just fine.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous16:32

    Can someone please explain me why my flights from Germany to Nis that were routed over Hungary regularly descend in Hungarian airspace from higher FLs to FL310? Is that because of ATC problems in Hungary so they are sending us to a lower sector with less traffic? Our TOD from FL390 to LYNI runway 11 was supposed to be over Vojvodina or even Belgrade but I noticed descent as soon as I could see lake Balaton and further check on tracking sites confirmed this,

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous19:32

      Flight level allocation scheeme (FLAS) is normally defined in a LOA (letter of agreement) between two atc units for a particular airport. And normally, it is up to the accepting unit (in your case Belgrade) to decide on entry conditions. I can only imagine (I am not serbian controller), that by early descent they push such flights bellow the main flow of traffic from NW and vv crossing at and around Belgrade because descending them after the main flow would be too late. And again usually, those FLASes are way more restrictive than the normal TOD and make pilots unhappy, but with the amount of the planes in the skyes everybody has to adapt.

      Delete

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