U.S. to resume flights over Russian-occupied Crimea

The United States will no longer ban civil aviation flights over Russian-occupied Crimea from October 27 this year, according to the decision of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"The FAA has determined U.S. civil aviation operations may resume safely in the specified areas of the Simferopol FIR [Flight Information Region] (UKFV) when the flight prohibition for that FIR contained in SFAR No. 113, § 91.1607, expires on October 27, 2020. 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 decision reads.

At the same time, the FAA extended until October 27, 2021, the ban on flights in some areas of Dnipro that pose a significant risk to U.S. civil aviation operations.

According to the report, on April 25, 2014, the FAA prohibited certain flight operations in a portion of the Simferopol Flight Information Region after the Russian Federation unlawfully seized Crimea from Ukraine. Later, the ban on flights was also extended to some areas of Dnipro due to hostilities in Donbas.

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