- Aviation disruptions and emergency situations, whether limited or massive, will happen. Having in place an effective emergency and contingency plan in aviation, is a legal requirement specified in various ANNEXES of ICAO.
- An effective Emergency and Contingency Plan, requires advance preparation in accordance to certain fundamentals: clarity of roleplayers, initial communication of the situation, updates as/when situations change, communication of resolution of operations. Swift, accurate and aligned situation analysis and response is critical to recovery & enduring impact. For this reason, advance training and systems refinement is required by the relevant national Authorities (airlines, airports, air traffic management) to ensure readiness for response when crisis occurs.
- Other entities and organisations through the traveller experience chain and affected by crisis in the aviation sector should also adopt, as much as possible, the requirements of the aviation sector for several scenarios however extreme they appear.
- In order to ensure this, there should be a centrally operated and empowered “Crisis Management National Agency”, created and supervised by the relevant State Authorities, in accordance to international best practices as regards stakeholder alignment & activation, as well as operational experience.
- Within the tourism sector, especially in island states where the use of air travel is the only means of transporting tourists, there should be in place effective crisis analysis, response and recovery plans for various crisis scenarios to be able to manage and minimize the negative impacts on air travel and destinations as a result of delays and disruptions.
Conclusions
