Over 130 aviation crisis management and emergency response professionals gathered in Bangkok for the 7th AAPA Emergency Response Conference organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), and co-hosted by Japan Airlines.

 

Themed “Synergies beyond Borders”, this year’s conference focused on building new collaborations and strengthening existing co-operation among industry partners, to address a diverse set of challenges faced by the industry today.

 

Topics addressed at the conference included: recommended practices during diversions, best practices in crisis communications, resource pooling across airport communities, and perspectives of next-of-kin.  Conference delegates will also be able to participate in an interactive exercise.

 

Welcoming delegates to Bangkok in his keynote speech, Mr. Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General, said, “Every day, 100,000 flights take-off and land, carrying 10 million passengers to their destinations safely and securely.  This remarkable achievement is a direct result of good teamwork and the commitment of aviation safety professionals around the world.  Accidents, though rare, do occur from time to time.  We need to ensure that appropriate emergency response plans and procedures are put in place to deal with such events.  Crisis management and emergency response preparedness are inevitably closely linked.”

 

Mr. Herdman added, “We must always be prepared for such emergencies, however unlikely or infrequent.  Working together, regulators and industry stakeholders need to be ready to apply important lessons learned from past experience and improve upon existing practices where necessary.  Governments have a key role to play in providing regulatory oversight consistent with established ICAO standards.”