On 7th March 2019, 200 participants from national aviation
authorities, aircraft operators, aerodrome operators,
groundhandling service providers (GHSP), and various aerodrome
associations, aircraft operator associations, groundhandling
associations and trade union associations attended the first EASA
Conference on Groundhandling (GH).
This conference prepares the way for a European groundhandling
roadmap and supports EASA in developing a European approach to
ensure safety in groundhandling. Amongst others, the aim was to
collect feedback from stakeholders on the draft GH Roadmap
published prior to the conference and discussed with the
audience.
At the same time, the purpose of the conference was to raise
public awareness on this new domain that has entered under EASA’s
remit. With the extension of scope of the new Basic Regulation
(EU) 2018/1139, groundhandling activities will complete the
European aviation safety map.
Opening the EASA GH Conference, Massimo Mazzoletti, Head of
Strategy and Programmes Department of EASA, pointed out the
extended scope of EASA as established by the New Basic Regulation
(EU) 2018/1139 and clarified the legislator’s intention to put
groundhandling on the European aviation safety map. He also
highlighted that the GH roadmap was drafted by industry experts
for the industry.
The conference was organised around six main areas of improvement
in the groundhandling domain, namely:
- Management System
- Operational standards
- Ground Support Equipment
- Training
- Staff turnover
- Oversight
These key areas had been identified in the first phase of the GH
project with the help of more than 45 interviews that EASA did
with various stakeholders.
The different panel workshops provided valuable insights and
helped the GH Roadmap to evolve into a consistent document,
indicating EASA’s next steps in implementing its new mandate for
groundhandling.
The conference ended with the wrap-up session where Jean-Marc
Cluzeau, Principal Advisor to the EASA Executive Director,
reiterated a few main points of the GH roadmap resulting from the
conference presentations and discussions.
Looking into the future, EASA will initiate a rulemaking task and
a safety promotion task to develop the necessary requirements and
non-regulatory activities with the aim of increasing the safety
level in the groundhandling domain. Close cooperation is
envisaged with GH industry and national aviation authorities. The
accomplishment of the GH Roadmap will rely heavily and
consistently on the use of existing industry standards in the GH
domain.
