System for Airport Business Continuity Management

The aviation business is one of the active areas that facilitates international travel. People frequently relocate for a variety of reasons, including business exploration, recreation, and education. Despite widespread support for worldwide travel, the airline industry has experienced a number of outbreaks and infections. The scenario has put the world’s health, security, and prosperity in jeopardy. Since the outbreak of rare diseases at airports, the management of numerous airstrip firms has been working tirelessly to develop contingency emergency plans for reducing the likelihood of disease outbreaks in the sector. The report discusses how certain airlines employ contingency planning to combat infectious diseases. Additionally, the study identifies some challenges that occur in the effort of controlling the syndromes as well as the mitigation steps.

The Case of Singapore Changi International Airport

While the most common airport infection has been the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the administration of Changi airport undertakes precautions to curb the condition (Leifer, 2013). Among the emergency steps, they practice, tightening the cross-border activities mainly to control the SARS toxicities. To achieve this, the airfield uses the health screening measures at the land, air, and sea checking points (Lin, 2014). Additionally, they use pre-departure screening where travelers that are detected with fever are being isolated and given immediate treatment before sending them back to the country of origin.

On the other hand, the Changi airport responds to the health crisis by adopting most effective ways to control the spread of SARS through air travel. In collaboration with international bodies like WHO and the international civil aviation, the airline has concentrated on the issues for eradicating the SARS prevalence (Lin, 2014). For instance, Changi is among the few companies having thermal scanners for detecting fever. Additionally, they give prior awareness to the workers and passengers on the vulnerability chances of various infections.

The case of Frankfurt Airport in German

Frankfurt airport controls the diseases by undertaking exit and entry screening. Exit screening is usually for all passengers in at the points of diseases outbreak (Schilling et al., 2015). The operation aims at identifying the sick people to avoid risking the life of the entire travelers. Following is the health evaluation that involves the use of health questionnaire, temperature scanning, and medical examination and inspection. On the other hand, entry screening includes contract tracing and other necessary steps like quarantine especially to the potential itinerants having been exposed to the diseases by the rest.

Challenges of the Emergency Plans by Frankfurt Airport in German

Sometimes travelers may be healthy at the time of taking the Airbus, however, develops a fever while still on with the journey. The situation could be exacerbated by the low incubation infections such as influenza, pulmonary plague, and SARS. Apparently, the diseases could endanger the life of the rest of travelers. Another encounter is the inaccuracy in identifying people with initial index cases of infection (Schilling et al., 2015). That could be due to the passenger’s incomplete lists from the airline, an instance that would lead to the late detection of diseases after the journey.

On the other hand, the problem of maintaining proper identification of contacts within the aircraft occurs. Generally, the space between the seat rows of the airplane defines the level and chances of the spread of diseases (Schilling et al., 2015). Usually, small squeezed planes facilitate the spread of illness due to the poor air conditioning and circulation. As a result of the congested rows, the travelers on the subsequent rows are likely to be affected. For instance, the spread of infections could be faster in planes such as Boeing B747-400 as compared to the Airbus A380X.

In Changi Airport in Singapore, the big issue in the implementation of the emergency plans for diseases control is the expensive nature of the regulatory equipment. The methodology relies on the deployment of more expensive machines to detect the chances of diseases like the thermal scanners for screening SARS (Leifer, 2013). Because the materials are costly, the scarcity of finance would hinder their availability. Additionally, the uneconomical nature of these apparatus necessitates for the collaboration with other institutions such as WHO and the global aviation sectors. In turn, the dependency makes the airline unable to carry out the activities without direction and intervention by other bodies.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Changi Airport in Singapore should try to be independent while maintaining the international standards of eradicating the infections. Instead of relying on the funds from the international institutions it should partner with other airline companies from different states to purchase the common machines for detecting the pandemics. As well, in the case of the outbreak of diseases with short incubation period occurring abruptly during the flight, urgent remedies should be put in place. While the destination could be far still, the flexible aircraft with the capability of landing everywhere should stop to assist the victims. It could involve isolation of the patients. Similarly, thorough medical checkup should be administered to the passengers before the journey. The officials should tolerate less of speculations and assumptions about health. Additionally, the airlines should purpose to higher proficient doctors during the expedition to treat unexpected sicknesses. Ultimately, the management should contemplate of acquiring the aircraft with the considerable sizes to reduce the chances of spreading infections while in the plane.

References

Leifer, M. (2013). Singapore’s foreign policy: coping with vulnerability (Vol. 10). Routledge.

Lin, W. (2014). Flying through ash clouds: improvising aero mobilities in Singapore and Australasia. Mobilities, 9(2), 220-237.

Schilling, S., Maltezou, H. C., Fusco, F. M., De Iaco, G., Brodt, H. R., Bannister, B., & Ippolito, G. (2015). Transportation capacity for patients with highly infectious diseases in Europe: A survey in 16 nations. Clinical Microbiology and Infection.