ACI World supports long-term sustainable planning to allow airports to be well-equipped in the face of uncertainty. As such, airports are called upon to adapt their measures and operations to better plan for unforeseen health crises—to mitigate the impact on civil aviation.
The Public Health & Safety Readiness accreditation provides airports with an assessment that evaluates how aligned their public health and safety measures are with the ACI Business Restart and Recovery guidelines and the ICAO Council's Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART) recommendations, along with other industry best practices, and consistent with CAPSCA recommendations for States.
Airport benefits
ACI World’s Public Health & Safety Readiness accreditation provides several benefits to airports of all sizes, in every region of the world:
Helps airports keep track and meet regulations / recommended practices – includes ACI, ICAO, and other industry best practices on public health for airports and their stakeholders
Protect people and reputation – showcases airports’ proactive approach to protecting their employees and passengers
Protect revenue – mitigating the risk of business disruption
Reduces costs – avoiding the wasting of resources due to the implementation of inefficient health measures
Provides additional assurance – assessment and recommendations are performed by independent subject matter experts
Provides access to resources for enhancing the public health and safety readiness journey – including newsletters, group meetings, and an extranet website.
Accreditation Scope
The accreditation covers the following areas:
- PH&S Assurance Program in place
- Corporate oversight
- Communication (to passenger, employees and stakeholders)
- Rightsizing cleaning activities & schedules
- Development of a BCP
- Risk management
- Event simulation - inclusion into emergency planning
Coordination – escalation/de-escalation
Developing resilience / terminal facilities
Technology/equipment & material
Continuous improvement
Staff deployment and redeployment
Accreditation process
The accreditation includes the following steps:
Questionnaire: airports complete and submit a questionnaire, together with the supporting material or documentation.
Online interview / assessment: independent subject matter experts perform an online validation interview and evaluate the questionnaires, providing recommendations and/or approving the accreditation.
Certificate: provided by ACI and valid for 3 years.
Continuous updates: tools and resources for constant self improvement during the validity period of the accreditation.
For questions about the Public Health & Safety Readiness accreditation, email assessments.accreditations@aci.aero.
Testimonials
"We take great pride in our achievement as the first airport in North America and the second in the world to secure ACI’s accreditation under its Accessibility Enhancement Accreditation (AEA) program. It signifies our dedication to ensuring that every traveller can experience the joys of air travel through a safe and welcoming airport experience. Thanks to ACI’s comprehensive process, we meticulously assessed, evaluated, and enhanced our accessibility programs and services. As the sole international accreditation program of its kind dedicated to airport accessibility, it allowed us to tailor our practices to meet the specific needs of Toronto Pearson's environment and align with global industry standards."
- Kurush Minocher (Executive Director, Customer Experience and Airline Relations), Greater Toronto Airports Authority
"In relentless pursuit of offering a world-class passenger experience, Houston Airports recognizes the crucial role of public health and safety readiness. The guidance provided by ACI World strengthens our long-term, sustainable action plans, which are designed to provide certainty in a post-pandemic era. The dedication, passion and work of our employees resulted in Houston Airports maintaining its PHSR Accreditation through 2026. This accreditation provides international recognition and reaffirms the commitment of Houston Airports in prioritizing and protecting all of our passengers and employees."
- Houston Airport System
"ACI's Public Health & Safety Readiness Accreditation Program has been instrumental to promoting and inculcating the health and safety culture within the Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru, operated by the Bangalore International Airport Limited. PHSR motivated BLR organizations and personnel to do more and more for customer delight and customer experience in the domain of pandemic and endemic preparedness, and continual improvements. BLR airport, having a deep-rooted Business Continuity and Risk Management culture and robust framework has always been proactive to the public health and safety requirements and we are sure ACI’s PHSA has been helping us in achieving our overall vision and mission. We appreciate and thank ACI for conceptualizing this program."
- Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru
"We decided to join the program to obtain this accreditation after comparing this new one with the AHA Accreditation. What we liked is that it took into account the business continuity aspects and the level of preparedness of airports if faced with another pandemic or health crisis. The other aspect that we appreciated was the duration of the accreditation. We are now recognized for 3 years instead of having to reapply every year.
The questionnaire required more research than the AHA Accreditation questionnaire, and we had to reach out to more people in the organization, but in the end the process was shorter and it helped bring all our relevant documentation together."
- Aéroport International Jean-Lesage de Québec
Participant airports
Publich Health & Safety Readiness Accreditation Extranet
This extranet is only available for program participants.