What Will the Disconnection of the Regime from the Global Aviation Data System Lead To?

• 4.11.2021, 16:46

This will be a serious blow.

Director of the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Transport Artem Sikorsky confirmed that Europe is considering the issue of disconnecting Belaeronavigatsia from the global aviation data system AIS (EAD). “This problem exists. We are in dialogue with our European partners,” the official said, calling the actions “not entirely legal” and adding that “the process of strangling the Belarusian aviation by our European partners continues.” Will the potential adoption of such a decision really be a heavy blow to Belarusian aviation? Will foreign companies be able to fly to Belarus? And what about cargo planes? To understand this, zerkalo.io asked an aviation expert, the author of the OtVinta | Aviation of Belarus telegram channel Yegor (he prefers not to disclose his last name).

- What is AIS (EAD) and how does it work? Is it like an "aviation intranet" with all the data on civil aviation in Europe?

- Rather, it can be called a kind of aviation navigator, which contains information about all the "traffic jams" and "accidents" on the road, free parking spaces, and so on.

If you break down the abbreviation, then everything becomes clear. Let's start with EAD. E - European. A is AIS (Aeronautical Information Service - it is used to provide an aircraft with all the information it needs to fly safely from point A to point B). D - database. So EAD is the European aeronautical information database.

Information from this database is transmitted in the form of an integrated aeronautical information package (IAIP), which consists of the following elements:

AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) is government data on where and how civilian vessels can fly;

AIP Supplements are temporary changes made to the AIP (for example, temporary bans on flights in certain parts of the airspace);

AIC (Aeronautical Information Circulars) - notifications that relate to flight safety or other aeronautical, technical, administrative, and legal matters;

NOTAM (Notice to Pilots) - Notices sent by telecommunications. Most often - information about the danger, a timely warning of which is important for the crew. This may include, for example, notifications about passing airshows or rocket launches, overflights of flocks of birds, idle runways;

PIB (Pre-Flight Information Bulletin) - the current NOTAM information prepared before the flight.

- Is this system a mandatory attribute or can flights be performed without it?

- Yes, this is a mandatory attribute for all countries that are members of Eurocontrol (European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, which includes most European countries; Belarus and Russia are not included), because flight safety is at stake. But the AIS system has analogs. For example, the Russian aeronautical database ARNAD.

- What will Belaeronavigatsia not be able to do if it is disconnected from the system?

- To transmit and receive in AIS up-to-date information on changes in the airspace and on the ground (runway accessibility, air corridors). As a result, it will be difficult to receive and escort ships flying from countries belonging to Eurocontrol and in transit. They will need to separately submit an application (the so-called flight plan) to Belaeronavigatsia, receive confirmation from it, and only then go to Eurocontrol to confirm the possibility of flying through our space and then entering the service sector of the European organization. The question is whether someone will do it.

In fact, Belarus will be able to receive only conventional planes from Russia or some other third countries that are not members of Eurocontrol without any problems, if such planes fly to Belarus.

- How will the possible disconnection turn out for the Belarusian airlines?

- It's simple: the road to Europe will be closed for them. Although in fact it is closed now, but only in the form of recommendations for the host countries (in other words, European aviation harbors are not recommended to receive Belarusian aircraft). In case of disconnection from AIS, this prohibition will become essentially technical.

Although, there is a loophole here as well: theoretically, it is possible to receive information from the European airspace through intermediaries and then submit a flight plan from the border with the Republic of Belarus. For example, it will be possible to get access to navigation databases through such companies as Jeppesen, accredited by the same Eurocontrol.

- And for foreign airlines flying to Belarus or in the skies over Belarus?

- In the event of a shutdown, foreign airlines will be able to fly to Belarus or through Belarus, but with difficulties in the form of the aforementioned procedure for coordinating a flight plan with Eurocontrol. Flights according to the usual scheme will become impossible.

- Will these changes also affect cargo companies as part of civil aviation?

- Yes, since they also use this information. Without it, the flight is possible with the same restrictions as for passenger aircraft, only through the approval of the flight plan.

This will force the few foreign cargo companies that continue to use our airspace to fly around Belarus. Some, even after recommendations to fly around Belarus, continue to transit through our country, because overflights are quite an expensive pleasure. Even now, you can see on sites like FlightRadar24 how many such planes fly through Belarus. Many Chinese, American, and European cargo airlines do this. If Belaeronavigatsia is disconnected from AIS, they will face the same problems as passenger airlines.

- And can it somehow affect military aviation?

- Probably not. To ensure the safety of military aviation, there is an autonomous system for providing aeronautical information to the state aviation of the Republic of Belarus, which operates within the country. It has nothing to do with AIS. There will also be some international flights on military aircraft within the framework of the CIS and, perhaps, China - such aviation has "everything of its own."

- Maybe you know of any other examples of companies that were disconnected from AIS (EAD)?

- I do not know about this. I think this is an exceptional case in the context of AIS Disconnect (EAD).