SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY
Health and safety Airports and the aviation industry continue to go to extraordinary lengths to combat the health risks caused by COVID-19, writes Joe Bates.
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rom deploying mobile medics, the opening of COVID-19 test centres and new cleaning regimes to embracing new industry health standards and the use of some of the most sophisticated technology on the planet, arguably, the world’s airports could not have done more to make themselves as safe as they can for passengers and staff. The sight of thermal temperature detection technology at airports has become almost commonplace, as have hygiene technicians, Perspex glass at check-in and immigration desks, hand sanitiser stations and signage and floor markings warning about the importance of social distancing. We have seen airport cleaning taken to a new level through the introduction of automated robots equipped with ultraviolet disinfection technology capable of eliminating the virus that causes COVID-19. While pressing elevator buttons and the need to physically touch any self-service machines or equipment could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a raft of new touchless technologies already being phased in around the globe. The battle against the pandemic has also led to some airports introducing compulsory COVID-19 testing for all staff and upgrading their heating and ventilation systems to improve the air quality in terminals. Although the motivation behind such actions for airports is simple – the need to show that they are safe environments to use to help restore confidence in air travel – the actions taken by individual airports and the industry as a whole, through organisations such as ACI, ICAO and IATA, has been far from it.
Industry response In terms of the airport industry’s response to the pandemic, ACI has led from the front, introducing two key new initiatives – the Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) programme and the Airport Health Measures Audit. The former was launched in July 2020 to assist airports by assessing new health measures and procedures introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic against global standards. While the latter,
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AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021
developed in partnership with Bureau Veritas, supports airports by addressing their specific risks and by reassuring passengers through an on-site audit. Topics covered by the AHA include cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing (where feasible and practical), staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications and passenger facilities. Istanbul Airport become the first in the world to gain Airport Health Accreditation in August 2020 and has since been joined by another 300 plus gateways, Munich and Brisbane being among most recent recipients. ACI director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, said: “The Airport Health Accreditation programme promotes best practices and helps align efforts across the industry to harmonise measures, processes and procedures. “This will be crucial as our industry begins to restart and then prepare to sustain continuing operations, providing to passengers and employees high globally-recognised standards on health and hygiene, which will help to restore public confidence in air travel.” Rome’s Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) run Fiumicino and Ciampino airports became the first to successfully complete the Airport Health Measures Audit programme in January 2020 and earn the right to display the SafeGuard label, demonstrating their compliance with a harmonised set of measures, aligned with the recommendations of national and international authorities. ADR’s CEO, Marco Troncone, said: “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have implemented a series of measures to provide passengers and employees with the highest health and hygiene standards, seeking cutting-edge solutions that combine safety and comfort. “It is with this spirit that we will relentlessly strive to further improve our performance on safety and quality, which are the ideal grounds to pose innovative safe travel protocols and to support traffic recovery.” ACI World has also led the call for airport employees to be recognised as essential workers and as such among the first to be vaccinated after healthcare workers and the vulnerable.
