US Lifts Ban On Civil Aviation Operations In Simferopol Flight Information Region

US Lifts Ban on Civil Aviation Operations in Simferopol Flight Information Region

The United States is going to scrap its ban on civil aviation operations in the Simferopol flight information region (FIR), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.

The document is set to be officially published in the Federal Register later on Friday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2020) The United States is going to scrap its ban on civil aviation operations in the Simferopol flight information region (FIR), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.

The document is set to be officially published in the Federal Register later on Friday.

"The FAA has determined U.S. civil aviation operations may resume safely in the specified areas of the Simferopol FIR (UKFV) when the flight prohibition for that FIR contained in SFAR No. 113, � 91.1607, expires on October 27, 2020," the regulation's unpublished version said.

According to the watchdog, "despite the Russian Federation's purported annexation and its occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and continued deployment of substantial military capabilities," the security situation in the Simferopol FIR has stabilized.

"Although the FAA expects the Russian Federation will continue to assert illegitimate territorial claims and maintain a competing ANSP [air navigation service provider] for the foreseeable future, Ukraine has demonstrated a sustained commitment to taking appropriate measures to minimize the residual risks to flight safety in the Simferopol FIR (UKFV) from these circumstances," the document added.

The FAA also commended Ukraine for taking measures to "protect civil aviation from the risk of misidentification."

In parallel, the same regulation extended ban on flights in the specified areas of the Dnipropetrovsk FIR over remaining "unacceptable level of risk to U.S. civil aviation."

The Crimean Peninsula rejoined Russia after nearly 97 percent of voters supported the move in a March 2014 referendum, following a power change in Ukraine. Kiev and the West insist that the territory was illegally seized by Russia, something that Moscow strongly denies.