Belgrade Airport launches counter drone system

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

Qantas resumes international flights

Emotions were high on Monday as excited passengers set off on the first flights between Australia and New Zealand as part of a quarantine-free Covid-19 “travel bubble”, allowing families long separated by the pandemic to reunite and enabling Australia’s Qantas to restore scheduled international flights after more than a year. “(I’ll) yell, scream cry, hug, kiss, (feel) happy - all of these emotions at once”, Denise O’Donoghue, 63, said at Sydney Airport as she prepared to board her flight. The arrangement means passengers can make the three-hour flight across the Tasman Sea without having to complete a mandatory Covid-19 quarantine when they arrive. Television footage showed emotional scenes at the airports with families reuniting and hundreds of passengers thronging the international departure terminals at Australian airports. “It is the first time in 400 days that people can travel quarantine-free and we are adding 16 return flights a day to New Zealand, and they are full”, Qantas Chief Executive, Alan Joyce, said. Qantas will increase flights between the countries to about 200 each week, while Air New Zealand said it had quadrupled its flights to 30 on Monday, with its airplanes flying into New Zealand at 97% capacity. “It is truly exciting to start quarantine-free travel with Australia. Be it returning family, friends or holiday-makers, New Zealand says: ‘Welcome and enjoy yourself’”, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said. Australia was New Zealand’s largest source of international tourists before the pandemic, accounting for about 1.5 million arrivals or 40% of total visitors in 2019. The border opening received saturation coverage from media in both countries, with live television reporting from airports providing regular updates on the progress of flights. On a grass embankment at the foot of Wellington Airport’s runway, the words “Welcome Whanau” (family) were spelled out in giant letters. More than half a million New Zealand-born people live in Australia, just more than 2% of Australia’s population of nearly 26 million.
Source: Al Jazeera

Belgrade Airport launches counter drone system

NEWS FLASH

Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport has deployed nine security scanners and a counter drone system from Rohde & Schwarz to maintain air traffic security. Commercially available drones pose severe risks to aircraft and their sightings have even caused flight suspensions. In order to prevent such situations, Belgrade Airport has procured and put into operation a counter drone system from Rohde & Schwarz that can detect drones even before they take off, classify the device type and notify when a drone’s remote control has been switched on. The sensor system can also capture the uplink for tracking down the drone pilot while their aerial device is still on the ground, thereby enabling security personnel to find the drone pilot and initiate electronic countermeasures. In addition, the uplink signal can also be disrupted, causing the drone to switch to failsafe mode. Under Serbian law, drones are prohibited from flying within a five kilometre radius around the airport unless given prior consent by the country's Civil Aviation Directorate.

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