(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar Airways (QA) and Hamad International Airport (HIA) yesterday conducted an emergency drill to train staff in managing an aircraft accident at the airport.
The annual preparedness exercise is part of QA's commitment to ensure that its staff are equipped to handle any emergency situation in a timely, safe and responsible manner.
HIA officially commenced commercial operations last April and has a network of sophisticated technology, including a state-of-the-art operations control centre.
This is the second exercise at HIA, after the first one in 2012.
This year's exercise involved airport stakeholders and all major emergency response organisations in Qatar.
The full-scale drill included 140 volunteer passengers, a QA Airbus 330-200 aircraft with 14 crew members and 50 volunteer family members waiting at HIA.
The exercise was conducted at a scale that exceeds international requirements to fully test the readiness of HIA, QA, its stakeholders and partners.
The scenario involved a flight that alerted an emergency 15 minutes after take-off from HIA, reporting severe flight control problems.
Following that a hard landing took place and resulted in simulated injuries and damage to the aircraft that had to be managed by the ground team.
Helicopters, ambulances and aircraft chutes were deployed for the emergency exercise.
"Safety is paramount at QA and at the heart of everything we do. We ensure that the best safety and emergency response practices are followed in all cases. Our staff are equipped with latest technology and adequate procedures to respond to any emergency at HIA," said Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive, QA. "It is an integral part of our operating procedures to hold exercises of this scale. We regularly conduct preparatory activities through which we train our staff to handle any incident to minimise damage and protect passengers and crew."
The drill aimed to assess the adequacy of plans and facilities during a major accident at HIA, including communications, partner response, management of the site, casualty registration and transportation logistics.
"I am proud to announce that HIA's Emergency Exercise Charlie Oryx 2015 took place seamlessly. The commitment and dedication of all agencies during preparation and implementation of the drill has been impressive. The exercise has been an opportunity for us to learn and improve our emergency preparedness," said Badr Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer, HIA.
QA's response was coordinated from its Group Emergency Control Centre in its headquarters and HIA's response was coordinated from Emergency Operations Centre at the airport, both equipped with tools to manage any incident. Features include satellite communications, links to communicate with aircraft in-flight and media operations centres.
On notification of the exercise, senior management gathered in Group Command Centre at QA headquarters to prepare for the simulation of the exercise and activate QA's comprehensive procedures for deploying operations staff instantaneously.
To maintain the integrity of such emergency exercises, all procedures that must be followed in emergencies were tested.
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