A workshop discussing security in business aviation was held by the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) in Berlin last month. The second regional workshop to have been arranged by the EBAA was organised with the theme ‘Security, Emergency and Disaster Management’. The first workshop on flight training was conducted in Paris earlier this year.

The guest speaker, Marion Knoben, a security expert with the European Commission Air Transport Directorate, gave a talk on the latest EU legislation on airport security.

“A special section of the legislation is committed to general aviation and we are willing to examine the specificity of business aviation, including on-demand charter operations” said Knoben.

“The European Commission is waiting for your input too” she added, inviting the delegates to co-ordinate their remarks through their association.

“The EBAA is a stakeholder in the EC advisory group on aviation security, where EBAA ceo Fernand Francois recently made a presentation on business aviation.

Among the other speakers of the day were: director general of the International Business Aviation Council, Don Spruston who presented on business aviation security standards and Francois, who spoke

on the EBAA’s security recommendations. He emphasised the need for an increased level of security in business aviation.

“Flight departments consider themselves largely immune to acts of terrorism, vandalism or other criminal activities,” he said.

The keynote speaker, Gunnar Kuepper, chief of operations, (aviation) emergency and disaster management, Los Angeles Airport, California, gave a lively presentation on crisis communication. He prese-nted interesting conflict resolution mechanisms.