Category: Media center

All 28 air traffic controllers from the Air Traffic Control Authority Pristina Approach in the Republic of Kosovo are undergoing training at BULATSA. They will undergo a specially designed refresher course to ensure that they will provide safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic in their country.

The course fully meets the requirements of the European Regulation 2015/340 and the refresher training program of ANSA and is conducted on the basis of a contract between the Air Navigation Services Agency – Republic of Kosovo and BULATSA. The training is necessary so that the Kosovo air traffic controllers can extend the validity of their licenses in order to perform their duties.

In addition to a theoretical part, they will also go through practical exercises, which will be conducted in the BULATSA’s simulator, where they will act out high-workload situations, work in adverse weather conditions, failure of surveillance equipment, as well as other extraordinary and emergency situations.

The simulations are conducted in an airspace specially created by the specialists of BULATSA, which fully matches the real airspace of the Republic of Kosovo, including all the current way points, means and procedures that the air traffic controllers apply. The aircraft used in the simulator match those operating at Pristina Airport.

The simulator of BULATSA provides the capability to set up the Human Machine Interface (HMI) so that it fully resembles the one used in the Republic of Kosovo.

The training is part of BULATSA’s plan to develop its simulator and provide the opportunity to train and conduct real time simulations, both for its own needs and for external contractors. Similar courses were conducted for air traffic controllers from North Macedonia and Armenia under the guidance of experts from the training center of BULATSA.

BULATSA Academy announced its autumn recruitment campaign for the position of “Air Traffic Controller”.

As every year, those wishing to be trained for the profession, can submit documents online until 30 October inclusively. Admission is continuous, but those who submit their application after this date will be included in the selection for the spring session in 2024.

The increased traffic in the sky over Bulgaria opens up a chance for everyone who wants to be trained for this profession. The candidates will have to pass through five stages of examination in order to be admitted to the training for the position of Air Traffic Controller.

The application requirements are higher education – with a minimum degree of “Bachelor”, regardless of the specialty. The first stage of the selection is admission of documents, after which the candidates who meet the requirements of the announcement will be invited to the FEAST test (First European Air Traffic Controller Selection Test), which is conducted in two parts. After successful performance at FEAST, they must pass a Class 3 medical fitness test. The final two stages of the selection are practical exercises on a simulator and a conclusion interview.

An English language proficiency certificate is no longer necessary, because the level of language proficiency is assessed through the FEAST test.

Those who pass all the stages of the exams will begin a two-year training at the BULATSA Academy, where they will be trained to become qualified Air Traffic Controllers. During this period they will also receive a monthly scholarship.

In order to present the details of the selection and the activities of the enterprise, BULATSA will conduct “Open Days” on 25 September, 13 and 26 October. Those who are interested to participate in the event must register on the enterprise’s website: “Open Days” of BULATSA in Sofia – BULATSA.

BULATSA set a record for serviced flights in the airspace of Bulgaria. On August 6, the Bulgarian air traffic controllers provided air navigation services to 3,715 aircraft, of which 3,451 were overflights, which is 18% more than the same period in 2019. This placed BULATSA in 8th place in Europe in terms of air traffic workload.

A record was also set in July with 110,947 aircraft operated, a 10.98% increase compared to 2022, when their number was 99,972 flights.

The number of international flights landed and departed for the month in and from our country was 10,425. An increase of 799 flights or 8.30% compared to the same month last year was reported.

BULATSA has also served more domestic flights. In the past month, they were 3570, 5% more than July 2022.

The largest increase is recorded in the serviced overflight aircraft – 96,952, compared to 86,972 for 2022.

Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) notifies aircraft operators and users of the Bulgarian airspace regarding the publication of Aeronautical chart 1:500 000, edition 10.1.

The chart is available on the flight information portal of Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) – Here.

Changes in edition 10.1:

• Implementation of new military aerodrome traffic zone Chaika;
• Implementation of new significant point MIRZU;
• Implementation of information about presence of areas with limited communication;
• Withdrawal of military danger areas LBD209, LBD228, LBD236, LBD242, LBD244, LBD249, LBD304, LBD307, LBD310, LBD312, LBD313 and LBD314;
• Implementation of new military danger areas LBD101, LBD102A, LBD102B, LBD312A, LBD312B, LBD313A, LBD313B, LBD314A, LBD314B and LBD315.

One of the main halls of the BULATSA Academy Aviation Training Centre now bears the name of Hristo Ivanov – a military pilot who trained generations of professional personnel for civil and military aviation in Bulgaria. It is where the basic training of future air traffic controllers takes place.

The Director General Georgi Peev opened the event in the presence of flight controllers from the Sofia ATC Centre.

BULATSA held a conference “The Aviation Specialists of the Future – Challenges to Their Discovery and Development”. The event was organized together with the Inter Expo Center, within the second edition of the INTER DRONE EXPO exhibition.

Expectations of the industry regarding the professional training of aviation personnel were shared at the forum. Examples of successful collaboration between users and training organizations were shown. The capabilities of the educational institutions in terms of providing a sufficient number of qualified aviation personnel were also presented.

Undoubtedly, the success in the development of the aviation sector in Bulgaria is highly dependent on the provision of a sufficient number of adequately trained specialists. BULATSA actively works in the direction of training and developing good professionals.

BULATSA and EUROCONTROL EATM/CERT hosted the second edition of AVIATION CAPTURE THE FLAG, which took place in Sofia.

The competition (Capture the flag) includes various challenges in the field of cyber security.

15 teams took part in the competition, including 62 competitors and 15 observers. The teams were from BULATSA, EUROCONTROL, BRITISH AIRWAYS, LUFTHANSA, Groupe ADP, Budapest Airport, Dublin Airport, Austrocontrol, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, DHMI, DSNA, HungaroControl, LFV, LPS, LVNL, SloveniaControl, Amadeus.

The competition included challenges of precision, speed and teamwork, which were the keys to successfully pass through the stages.

The team of BULATSA developed the cyber scenarios and the hard-to-crack hardware in order to recreate the ‘hacker’ battle.

The fastest and most resourceful team was 1А4Sky! – Amadeus. In addition to speed, Amadeus also collected the highest number of points. On second place are the BULATSA Knights. The Run[a]way SOC team of Budapest Airport took the third place.

“This event is a challenge that allowed the participants to become convinced that teamwork is the key to success in the fight against cyber attacks. Our message is to work together, share knowledge and collaborate to create a strong cybersecurity community. “Capture the Flag” provides the unique opportunity to test the knowledge and skills in a simulated environment. The competition provided a wonderful opportunity to create contacts between leading professionals in the field, who could rely on each other in a real situation in the future. I extend my gratitude to EUROCONTROL for the outstanding contribution to the implementation of this initiative.” – said the BULATSA Director General Georgi Peev.

BULATSA has once again proved its motivation and intention to be part of the community of leading organizations in the field of aviation and cyber security.

On the World Blood Donor Day, BULATSA received an honorary plaque from the National Center for Transfusion Hematology in a joint ceremony with the Bulgarian Red Cross.

BULATSA is among the distinguished organizations that have the most active participation over the years in the organized blood donation campaigns.

The Deputy General Director Ivan Diaksov received the plaque at an official event held in the hall of the National Center for Transfusion Hematology. On behalf of BULATSA, he thanked for the award and stated that the team of the enterprise has always been and will be among the first to join the campaigns. “Our colleagues are active blood donors, not only on the days organized in BULATSA, but also on their personal initiatives for years and regularly donate blood.”

The motto of the 2023 campaign is “Donate blood, donate plasma, share life, share often.”

The directors general of BULATSA Georgi Peev and the ANS of the Republic of Kosovo – ANSA Samir Bllacaku agreed on future cooperation within the framework of the Memorandum for establishment and development of strategic cooperation, signed between the two organizations in 2017.           

The team of BULATSA presented the activities of the enterprise for efficient and safe flight service without delays due to ANS, and the operational and technological innovations and the work on SESAR projects were noted.

A highlight of the meeting between the two delegations were the capabilities of BULATSA Academy for training air traffic controllers, which aroused particular interest. 

The team of ANSA visited the Operations Room and the Training Centre, where they got acquainted with the practical aspects of the work of BULATSA.

For the first time, BULATSA will host a two-day workshop-competition entitled AVIATION CAPTURE THE FLAG BULATSA AND EUROCONTROL/EATM-CERT. The event is part of the “Capture The Flag” initiative of EUROCONTROL, The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, and will be held on 14 and 15 June in the halls of Metropolitan Hotel in Sofia.

Leading specialists in the field of information security and aviation will take part in the event, who will share their experience and best practices.

The competitive part of the event foresees the participation of 15 teams composed of professionals from different countries, and the goal is to solve a complex puzzle of tasks and challenges related to aviation safety and protection from cyberattacks in the shortest possible time.

AVIATION CAPTURE THE FLAG BULATSA AND EUROCONTROL/EATM-CERT is entirely practically oriented, and the acquired knowledge and skills will guarantee even greater effectiveness of the efforts for a safer and secure sky.