Aviation was raised for a report – Newspaper Kommersant No. 205 (7406) dated 11/03/2022

The Federal Air Transport Agency asked industry participants to report on the security situation every day at six in the morning. The new requirement is related to the high alert regime announced in the Central and Southern federal districts. Airports and carriers conduct special drills to work out scenarios of terrorist attacks and fires, airlines report brawlers and false calls about mining, and also test first aid skills among employees. Experts note that while training and reports do not complicate the work of transport, there is a potential for tougher checks.

As it became known to Kommersant, the Federal Air Transport Agency has introduced new safety reporting for airlines and airports. In connection with the introduction of a high alert regime in the Central and Southern Federal Districts, the department instructed the heads of departments to report daily at six in the morning “on the current situation at air transport facilities.” The second recipient of the information is the duty service of the flight safety department at Domodedovo. Aggravated incidents should be “reported immediately” to the indicated mobile phones.

The order is valid from October 25 and will last “until the order is canceled.” The Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency did not answer Kommersant’s questions. Domodedovo specified that the airport “interacts with the Federal Air Transport Agency on a number of issues, including this one.”

Vnukovo reported that the working group required by the Federal Air Transport Agency is functioning on an ongoing basis. Last week, the airport organized a training session on the evacuation of passengers and staff from Terminal A “in the event of a threat of fire, sabotage and terrorist attacks.” The goal was to test preparedness for action in emergency situations, “to develop the skills of staff to accurately navigate the terminal building in a stressful situation”, to test the performance of fire protection systems and the availability of emergency exits.

Sheremetyevo told Kommersant that training and exercises are regularly conducted at the airport according to the Nabat operation plan (aircraft capture scenario). Representatives of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Russian Guard are also involved in working out emergency scenarios. To work out the threat of hijacking an aircraft on the territory of the airfield, remote parking areas are provided so that the liner “does not interfere with other aircraft and does not interfere with the operation of the airport.” The security forces of the MASH and police officers armed with automatic small arms are participating in the cordon of the “captured aircraft”. To “localize the consequences”, crews of fire and medical teams, as well as employees of other operational services, arrive at the liner.

The new instruction to Kommersant was confirmed by interlocutors in a number of airlines, including S7: “The company has formed a group for monitoring and providing information. All measures aimed at strengthening transport and aviation security measures are being carried out.”

Aeroflot Group, Ural Airlines, Red Wings, Smartavia, AzurAir and other companies declined to comment. But, as the interlocutor of Kommersant, close to the Ministry of Transport, clarified, all major airlines are aware of the new regime and “reporting is provided on time.”

Some Kommersant sources in the airlines add that they also carried out checks, “they practiced evacuation from a hijacked and burning aircraft, first aid”. Another interlocutor in the aviation industry notes that when reporting, calls about false mining and the identification of brawlers should also be reported. Another interlocutor points out that the summary report on security control does not affect the operation of the airline and does not cause much difficulty, “although the responsible persons have more work to do.” In one of the large companies, the only difficulty was the rapid collection of information from regional offices at six in the morning. Kommersant’s interlocutor expressed the hope that airports do not use the high alert mode as a pretext for raising rates for aviation security. “I also would not like the transformation of UIA airports into a similarity (the airport named after.— “b”) Ben Gurion, ”added the Kommersant source, noting that one of the most guarded airports in the world in Tel Aviv is controlled not only by the police, but also by the military.

In Russia, the procedure for changing readiness levels is established in the national aviation security program, developed as an annex to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the provisions of the ICAO guidelines. The document places responsibility for the prevention of threats on airport aviation security commissions, created jointly with the Federal Air Transport Agency and other competent authorities.

At the same time, “instruments for parrying threats” can be quickly expanded in the event of a deterioration in the situation, Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of Aviaport, notes. When a new threat is detected, response methods may include a ban on the transport of certain cargo and baggage, additional screening of vehicles entering the airport. But this happens only by collective agreement of the members of the commission, the expert points out.

Oleg Panteleev recalls that control measures are being adjusted taking into account the experience of countering terrorism: for example, after the episode with the “shoe terrorist” Richard Reid, who in 2002 tried to carry an explosive in the sole on board an American Airlines plane, airports began to inspect shoes.

Aigul Abdullina