The scheduled full-scale exercise at Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia" was successfully completed

Fraport Greece, the operator of the 14 regional airports in Greece, successfully conducted a scheduled full-scale emergency exercise at Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia" in collaboration with all relevant bodies.

During the exercise, in addition to the Fraport Greece personnel, all the relevant bodies involved in such incidents also participated. Specifically, the Hellenic Police (H.P.), the Fire Department (F.D.), the National Center for Immediate Assistance (N.C.I.A.), the Health Operations Center, the National Coordination Centre for Operations and Crisis Management (E.S.K.E.DI.K.), the Independent Directorate of Civil Protection of Central Macedonia, the Forensic Service of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (H.C.A.A), and entities involved from the airport, such as the Air Traffic Control Tower, the ground handling service provider and the Security Services Provider. In addition, 110 students from the IEK EKAB, SAEK of Thermi, SAEK of the Ministry of Tourism, IEK DELTA and IEK AKMI also participated, who according to the scenarios distributed to them simulated the passengers of the aircraft and their friends & relatives of the passengers.

The scenario of the exercise concerned an aircraft accident off airport. With the occurrence of the event, the Airport's Emergency Response Plan was immediately activated, with the simultaneous initiation of relevant operational procedures.

Specifically, actions were taken for the rescue, provision of first aid on the scene and the evacuation of passengers, in excellent coordination among the involved bodies. Simultaneously, the Airport Crisis Management Center was activated to coordinate the incident as well as, the reception centers for uninjured passengers and crew, for the support of the victims.

The purpose of conducting this full-scale exercise was to evaluate and potentially improve the operational response level to such an event. Mainly, it aimed to analyze the collaboration and interoperability of the involved entities in addressing such a crisis.

Following the successful execution of the full-scale exercise, which was conducted in collaboration with all the relevant authorities, Mr. Panagiotis Spyratos, Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Fraport Greece, stated: "The successful completion of this specific full-scale exercise at Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia", through the collaboration of Fraport Greece and the other involved entities, is of critical importance for the safety of airports and flights. Fraport Greece, with its commitment to providing a high level of safety for passengers and the key links of air transportation, has planned a comprehensive strategic plan which includes this particular exercise. This plan is implemented on a permanent basis - at the 14 regional airports managed and operated by the company - including, among other things, the renovation of infrastructure, alignment of processes and operations with the highest European and international standards and the training of its personnel, with the goal of maintaining and enhancing the already high level of safety at the 14 regional airports."

You can find out more about the emergency exercise in the video.