Airport Council International resolved to promote a common sense approach to landside security

ACI recognizes that globally, there is a real and present threat from terrorism and that aviation remains an attractive target. The recent attacks in the public areas of Brussels National and Istanbul Atatürk airport have shown the vulnerability of public spaces at airports. ACI maintains that each layer of security, should be based on a risk and vulnerability assessment for a particular country and airport, where factors such as location, physical infrastructure and passenger and airline demographics are taken into account.

The ICAO Council has agreed two new Standards for inclusion in Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention aimed at ensuring that States implement measures to address landside security. ACI believes that these standards need to be complemented with comprehensive guidance material that emphasizes the need to avoid additional queues, and encourages airports and regulators to work together to define landside areas, agree clear responsibilities and determine the most appropriate measures for their environment.

As part of promoting a common sense approach to landside security, the Resolution affirms that airports will contribute to the development of the ICAO guidance material and work with local regulators and existing security providers to identify a range of flexible measures that can be implemented as the threat level dictates.

The Resolution highlights that additional screening at a terminal entrance can increase risk by creating an additional bottleneck and moves the vulnerability to another location where it cannot be managed as well. It also recognizes the importance that intelligence and information sharing plays; identifying the need for a mechanism to share threat information among local law enforcement, intelligence agencies and security-cleared airport staff. Furthermore, it urges airports to implement a strong security culture and identify means to reduce crowds and queues in public spaces.

“Maintaining the security of the traveling public is a top priority for airports and involves multiple layers of measures to detect threats and mitigate risks,” said Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World. “The threat from terrorism is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges that the aviation system faces, including the protection of public areas. The Resolution on landside security underlines airports’ commitment to work with regulators to implement common-sense, flexible and practical measures that best fit their risk environment and do not create new potential target areas by increasing queues or crowds.”

2. To learn more about ACI’s work on airport security, click here. 

3. To download Resolution 4, click here.

4. For a PDF of this press release, click here.