ZAGREB, 8 Dec, 2021 - Croatian Air Traffic Control (HKZP) said on Tuesday it had successfully completed an investment of HRK 9 million (€1.2m) in the Northern Adriatic VHF/UHF radio centre, which will increase the total capacity of its radio air traffic control system.

The new radio centre is situated on Mount Guslica in Risnjak National Park and will be used by the Area Control Centre Zagreb and approach control units.

It was built in cooperation with Risnjak National Park, which will use it as a field station for its monitoring service.

The radio centre will ensure the provision of safe, efficient and regular air traffic control services and responsible and rational management of national infrastructure resources, the HKZP said in a press release.

It was built to environmental protection standards and forms an integral part of the protected wooded area of the Gorski Kotar region, .

The investment is part of a HRK 25 million (€3.3m) project aimed at upgrading the operating system. It was launched to ensure that the infrastructure can support the expected increase in air traffic in Croatia in the years ahead, the HKZP said.

The European Commission covered 85 per cent of the costs of the equipment and infrastructure with funding from the Connecting Europe Facility.

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October the 8th, 2021 - Ante Olujic is the very first person to complete his entire air traffic control (tower air traffic) training entirely in the Republic of Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, Ante Olujic has just found himself added to the increasingly long list of young talent ''produced'' here in Croatia, as he is the very first tower air traffic controller to complete his training in Croatia, which was far from the case until now.

Until last year, all air traffic controllers had to complete part of their training in various other European organisations, and only the last part of the training for this typically highly stressful position was conducted by the Croatian Air Navigation Services (HKZP).

In addition to the significant costs which are involved in this type of training, which many people perhaps don't even really consider to be much of a factor, such organised training has very often resulted in the lack of development of Croatian training experts who work in this highly specific field.

“I'm proud that I've successfully managed to pass the demanding tests of knowledge and practical skills and that I will be able to control the sky above Split. Learning on a simulator designed by fellow controllers from all over Croatia is a high standard of education conducted in Europe,'' said Ante Olujic, a new air traffic controller who successfully completed the entire training in Croatia in just over fifteen months.

From HKZP, a complete national system of training tower, approach and regional air traffic controllers was established fairly recently, and they introduced a new tower training simulator that is entirely a product of Croatian intelligence, proving that future air traffic controllers may no longer need to go off elsewhere for their training, and may soon be able to learn all they need right here at home.

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