EU to Co-fund 8 CCL Projects

Croatia Control (CCL) was granted funds by the European Commission for eight air traffic related projects worth about EUR 18.4 million, with 85 percent of the amount co-funded by the EU, said CCL’s Director General Dragan Bilać at today’s press conference.
 
Air traffic safety level will rise with the implementation of the awarded projects, as well as the quality of services provided to airline companies, said Dragan Bilać, adding that the projects would be co-funded from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). He also said that every year CCL invested approx. EUR 13.2 million in air traffic control system modernization, thus the co-funding in the amount of about EUR 15.6 million would contribute significantly to cost reduction.
 
These projects are in the field of engineering and technology, and one of the most significant among them is the implementation of the A-SMGCS system (Advanced Surface Movement, Guidance and Control System) at Zagreb International Airport, worth about EUR 4.4 million, which is used by the aerodrome control for airport ground traffic surveillance and aircraft ground movement guidance.
 
The system consists of a radar and 14 sensors through which we will obtain a complete picture of aerodrome ground traffic. This is the first investment in this type of a system in Croatia, which is our response to the construction of the new passenger terminal with new maneuvering areas and a new apron, said CCL’s Director General, adding that the new surveillance system would be commissioned in the first quarter of 2018.
 
The most valuable project of about EUR 8.5 million is the continuation of harmonization of the five air navigation service providers’ (COOPANS Consortium) air traffic management systems, which comprises three functional upgrades of the COOPANS ATM system (the extension of free routes, java human machine interface and a safety net improvement) in order to achieve the Single European Sky objectives.
 
Another interesting project is the SEAFRA H24 project worth EUR one million, the goal of which is the implementation of cross-border Free Route Airspace over 4 neighboring countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. The implementation of the project, as Dragan Bilać put it, brings savings to airline companies through reduced fuel consumption, overflight time, and greenhouse gas emissions.  
 
Teo Bratinčević, Financial Operations Adviser, introduced other projects which include data network modernization, the implementation of a modern VHF/UHF radio centers network based on digital voice transmission via IP technology, cyber security, the harmonization of DSNA (the French ANSP) and COOPANS members’ ATM systems, and joint procurement and development for NewPENS (a network of all ATM users in Europe).
 
CCL is a state-owned company whose core business is providing air navigation services, with air traffic control for civil and military aircraft being the most significant one. It employs 720 people and performs approx. 600,000 operations annually, which makes it one of the major Croatian exporters, especially in the field of services.