At a press conference held on 19 June 2012 in the Ministry of National Development in Budapest, NATO was reported to have selected Hungary as the successful applicant for re-opening the upper airspace over Kosovo and restart air traffic. HungaroControl Zrt. may be assigned the duty from spring 2013 if all the required conditions are met, said Zsolt Németh, Parliamentary Minister of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2003 NATO has been seeking a technical solution for opening the upper airspace over Kosovo to the international air traffic, he added.

Minister of State for Infrastructure Pál Völner of the Ministry of National Development pointed out: as one of the most highly recognised and most rapidly developing air navigation services in Central Europe, HungaroControl possesses substantial expertise and has the required technological background. As he put it: Co-operation between the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Defence Ministry, the National Transport Authority and the Hungarian Transport Security Organisation in joint effort with HungaroControl Hungarian Air Navigation Services Pte. Ltd. Co. may earn Hungary high prestige, recognition and a diplomatic success without debiting the government budget.

The Hungarian air traffic controllers will perform this duty in HungaroControl’s brand new control centre to open at the end of this year. The centre to be built with an investment of approximately HUF 13 billion will be among the most modern control centres of the continent, equipped with the highest standard network infrastructure available at the moment.

(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)