COVID-19 and aviation security
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all on-site audits scheduled from March 2020 to the end of the year were postponed. The need to postpone additional audits is assessed on a monthly basis, and a rolling twelve-month schedule has been developed using the Universal Security Audit Programme - Continuous Monitoring Approach (USAP-CMA) risk-based process to reschedule such postponed activities. In this way, once normal operations begin to take place, the audit programme will be in a position to rapidly resume regular audits. Although on-site audits were postponed, many State Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) were reviewed and feedback provided to States, while recommendations made by the Secretariat Study Group on the USAP-CMA to improve the programme were being implemented. Further, limited-scope documentation-based audits were initiated in 2020, with more planned in 2021 for selected States that have made significant improvements in implementing their CAPs following their previous USAP-CMA audits.
On 27 October 2020, the First Edition of the Guidelines for Aviation Security Contingency Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic was published following an extensive round of feedbacks from States and Industry partners. The Guidelines aim to ensure that baseline security measures set by Annex 17 – Security Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) are not undermined and to harmonize aviation security contingency measures, including sanitary protocols, and to help protect screeners, passengers and staff while preserving aviation security objectives and proposing alternative aviation security measures. To further the understanding and proper implementation of the practices recommended in the Guidelines, a series of webinars were given in English, French and Russian to meet international and regional demands.
The “Updated Overview of Threats and Risks to Civil Aviation” as referred to in EB 2020/45, published in September 2020, includes a qualitative analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on civil aviation security. This document aims to support Member States in their efforts to maintain a secure air transport system during the pandemic and during the subsequent recovery phase.
