Airports Council International officially launches its APEX in Safety programme

Today, ACI officially launched its APEX in Safety programme during a well-attended ceremony at the 22nd ACI World/North America Annual General Assembly, Conference and Exhibition in Calgary, Alberta.

According to Angela Gittens, Director General, Airports Council International, “In September 2011, ACI launched its APEX in Safety pilot programme. Today, exactly one year later, I am very proud to look back at the tremendous strides and progress that we have made in terms of the acquisition of expertise, knowledge and safety programme management skills that have enabled us to transition to full programme status today. I would like to thank the many APEX Safety Partners, Host Airports and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that participated in our pilot programmes and who have made this day possible. As the Voice of the World‟s Airports, ACI is pleased to facilitate a partnering process whereby each airport by virtue of its unique characteristics, strengths and knowledge can contribute to helping airports improve safety compliance and mitigate the risks of airport incidents worldwide.”

According to Henry Gourdji, ICAO‟s Chief, Continuous Monitoring and Oversight Section, Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme who spoke at the programme launch, “We believe that APEX in Safety has the potential to make a real difference in improving safety at airports worldwide. It moves ACI into the realm of active safety management, a concept that ICAO is committed to and supports. We are looking forward to our continuing collaboration with ACI as the APEX in Safety initiative moves into full implementation phase.”

ACI launched its first pilot in September 2011 at Société Aéroportuaire de Lomé-Tokoin in Togo. We subsequently completed six pilot reviews, including: Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula; Maputo International Airport in Maputo, Mozambique; Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia; Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia and most recently at Cluj-Napoca International Airport in Romania.

In May 2012, in Singapore, ACI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Airports Authority, one of the largest airport authorities in the world, to conduct peer reviews at their airports and they have agreed to provide safety partner experts for other airports in the Region.

In June 2012, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, ACI and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) for Enhanced Cooperation to Improve Safety Standards at Airports Worldwide. Most recently, in Livingstone, Zambia in July 2012, at the African Ministerial Conference, ACI and the APEX in Safety programme were cited as solutions to help airports meet rigorous safety targets.

The APEX in Safety programme takes shape in the form of a traditional peer review, whereby airports around the world benefit from, and lend their knowledge and experience to identifying and prioritizing the actions that participating airports can take to reduce risks and improve their responsiveness in the event of an incident. APEX in Safety is built on the ICAO principles of information transparency, in a non-punitive, „just culture‟ environment, where sharing data and best practices lead to excellence. The expected outcomes of ACI’s APEX in Safety programme include tangible increases in safety and compliance by members in response to specific needs identified by participating airports, with the ultimate goal of reducing the potential for airport safety incidents.