From 10 September to 9 December, a restriction on air traffic is in force in the eastern part of Poland along the country’s borders with Belarus and Ukraine, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PAŻP) announced in a communiqué.
The restriction has been introduced for reasons of state security, pursuant to a regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure on flight restrictions for a period not exceeding three months.
PAŻP stated that, at the request of the Operational Command of the Armed Forces, from 10 September at 22:00 until 9 December at 23:59, an air traffic restriction is in force in eastern Poland in the form of the EP R129 restricted area.
According to the graphic provided by PAŻP (above), the EP R129 area covers the entire border with Belarus and with Ukraine.
The Agency emphasized that from sunset to sunrise a total ban on flights applies within EP R129, except for military aircraft. In addition, a round-the-clock ban on flights by civil unmanned aircraft operates within the area.
From sunrise to sunset, flights in EP R129 are prohibited with the exception of:
- “manned aircraft conducting flights after filing a flight plan, equipped with a functioning transponder operating in Mode A and C or in Mode S, maintaining continuous air–ground voice communication with the relevant ATS authority and, where necessary, establishing two-way communication on the appropriate channel of the relevant ATS authority”;
- military aircraft;
- flights executed under the codewords GARDA, ALPHA SCRAMBLE;
- flights with HEAD, STATE, SAR, HOSP, MEDEVAC, FFR status.
The communiqué notes that, following coordination with the Duty Operational Service of the Air Operations Center – Air Component Command (DSO COP-DKP) at tel. 261 828 202, flights by state aviation, air ambulance services, and flights conducted to provide assistance in cases of danger to the life or health of people or animals “including, in particular, during natural disasters, catastrophes, environmental threats, or emergency situations,” may be permitted. Flights related to the protection and inspection of critical infrastructure may also be authorized.
PAŻP underlined that the entry of aircraft not meeting the exclusion criteria into an active area constitutes a violation of Aviation Law.