Diana Simón has been an AVSEC auditor at SENASA since 2016, supporting the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) as an expert in Air Transport Facilitation. She has developed her career in civil aviation security in private airlines before taking on the challenges she faces from SENASA in the service of the aviation authority and the processes involved in all air transport. In this interview with MEET OUR TEAM Diana Simón explains what Air Transport Facilitation consists of, what role SENASA plays in supporting the Spanish authority in this field and how it has laid the foundations to be a reference for other countries.
What is Air Transport Facilitation and what is SENASA's role on that?
Air transport facilitation encompasses all those measures and procedures that seek to make air transport more efficient, convenient, smooth, and secure. Facilitation affects all the processes involved in transport, from the moment the traveller leaves home, arrives at the airport and checks in baggage, until reaching destination after passing through security, immigration, and customs controls, among other issues.
In Spain, facilitation is a responsibility assigned to the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) and is one of the areas in which SENASA offers technical support, through our expert staff in the field. It is often said that facilitation is the other side of civil aviation security. At SENASA we are aware that, in order to work in facilitation it is necessary to have extensive knowledge and training in security, given that to facilitate these procedures, the operational security measures in all phases of air transport must be very well known.
In addition to our support at national level, SENASA advises and represents the authority in the Facilitation working group of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), and in the panels and conferences of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on this matter.
How is facilitation implemented and articulated in Spain?
The provisions regarding Facilitation of Air Transport are contained in ICAO Annex 9, which requires States to take all practicable measures to facilitate air navigation between territories and to avoid unnecessary delay to aircraft, crews, passengers and cargo, especially in the application of immigration, sanitary, customs and clearance laws.
This facilitation involves continuous improvement in control and service processes and requires a high degree of cooperation between the different bodies involved (airlines, service providers, airport authorities and inspection entities), each of which has a responsibility to contribute to these improvements.
In addition, each State must have its own National Air Transport Facilitation Committee and National Facilitation Programme. At the regulatory level, the Spanish Air Transport Facilitation Committee was created by order in 2003 and, although it has been activated ad hoc for the management of specific situations, AESA has promoted and standardised its regular operation since the end of 2019. Having the Committee active in Spain from the end of 2019 was a great success, because it became a decisive body for managing air transport in Spain during the pandemic. In addition, this Committee has "ad hoc" delegated Commissions to deal with specific issues: health (during the pandemic), border control, etc. The role of SENASA, as technical support to AESA, was both in the reactivation of the Committee and in its operation since then.
The Facilitation Committee works in such diverse and relevant areas of work as immigration, customs, persons with impaired mobility, cargo, health and AVSEC/Facilitation. The Committee coordinates the implementation of measures to facilitate the clearance of aircraft, crew, passengers, cargo, baggage, mail and supplies. On the regulatory side, it ensures that the provisions of ICAO Annex 9 are incorporated into Spanish law. It also makes recommendations and keeps administrative bodies and competent authorities informed and is Spain's liason with ICAO and ECAC on air transport facilitation issues.
In the case of Spain, the National Facilitation Committee has permanent members: Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), the Ministries of Interior, Health, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Finance (Customs), AENA and consultative members (representatives of airlines, handling and cargo companies). Therefore, all organisations involved in air transport are represented, it is chaired by the Director of AESA, Montserrat Mestre, and the AVSEC managers of AESA also participate as permanent members.
During the pandemic, what did the management of air transport activity involve for the Committee?
When the COVID pandemic began in early 2020, the Committee was already formed, functioning and operational. From that moment on, a permanent commission for health issues was created. It was then responsible for absolutely all the health actions taken by the Spanish government, and all measures that affected the sector were coordinated.
The Spanish Facilitation Committee performance was an example in the airport field for other countries and regions. First, in Spain we developed a tool - the Spain Travel Health (SpTH) - to facilitate mobility, ensure public health and allow for a gradual and safe return to economic activity. It worked very well. In addition, Spain was one of the few countries that had a protocol of recommendations to be able to operate with a certain degree of safety and guarantees, which was decisive in the COVID period for the recovery of flights as soon as possible.
Through AESA’s resolutions, these recommendations were incorporated as mandatory regulations for both airport managers and airlines, so that greater safety could be guaranteed, and travellers could resume their journeys as soon and as often as possible. During this period, SENASA collaborated intensively with the authority so that, from our role as auditors, all the most urgent measures during the pandemic could be carried out, coordinating their implementation with the rest of the Committee. Thanks to this, it was possible to operate with much greater security and to resume operations in compliance with all the measures, offering confidence to the sector and to society in general.
The management of COVID in Spain, through the Facilitation Committee, gave a tremendous boost to the committee itself. At the same time, we learned to work in a coordinated manner, planning actions and seeking the opinion of those affected by their application. As a result, the case of Spain was a benchmark in pandemic management in the field of air transport for other states and regions.
What is the international presence of the Spanish Facilitation Committee?
Our international participation is a key factor of the work carried out in the field of Facilitation. In the ECAC there is a permanent working group that deals with such important and specific issues as assistance to persons with impaired mobility, public health or immigration processes. In the case of ICAO, the facilitation panel meets every two years. In both forums, SENASA provides the necessary technical support in facilitation issues so that the participation of the Spanish delegation is as effective as possible.
Globally, 2024 is a very important moment for facilitation. On the one hand, at the end of February, the ICAO Facilitation Panel was held in Montreal, which takes place every two years and brings together experts in the field from all States. The 75th anniversary of Annex 9 will also be celebrated in 2024, and numerous events, meetings and seminars are planned to raise awareness of the importance of Air Transport Facilitation. This is a great opportunity to raise awareness of initiatives, share best practices and promote actions among all facilitation experts, which are then reflected in the adoption of commitments by ICAO and all member states.
In this regard, as an example of good practice the Spanish delegation will present the coordination carried out in pandemic with SpTH, the success of which is reflected in the degree of passenger satisfaction and the low level of litigation generated. Of the almost 56 million passengers, 94.12 % used the SpTH application and only four complaints were registered.
What challenges lie ahead for facilitation?
We have lived through complex scenarios in which we have all learned a lot for the future. We are currently compiling all the measures that were taken with airport managers during the pandemic, as well as all the coordination carried out between Health Departmen and the manager, so that it can be documented as a repository. In this way, and if necessary in the future, measures and protocols that could affect air transport operations would already be organised and standardised.
Since last year, the Permanent Commission for border issues, delegated by the Committee itself, has been established to coordinate the implementation of the new border control systems and their possible impact on Spanish airports, as well as airport capacity concerns. The volume of flights forecast for 2024 already exceeds the pre-pandemic figures of 2018 and 2019. In view of the capacity problems that could be generated not only at airports, but also in route planning and passenger volume management, the "Summer-Winter Readiness" programme has been launched.
This programme, promoted by AENA and coordinated with the relevant authorities, aims to respond to an increase in operations during holiday seasons, which could affect the needs of immigration, customs control or security filters, among others, and is another example of a good practice to share outside our borders.
Spain also collaborates in other initiatives, such as the working group to tackle human trafficking. There are already regulations in place, which are being updated and incorporated into Annex 9. In this regard, after this year's ICAO panel meeting, the priorities for action on facilitation for the new period are expected to be set, which all states will have to adopt.
In general, Spain's objective is to maintain and increase our presence in the international forums in the field of Air Transport Facilitation to which we can contribute more actively through our participation in the different working groups that are generated as a result of the ICAO panel.
At national level, SENASA will continue to support the aeronautical authority in the objectives set for Facilitation, especially in the participation and coordination of the committees, and in the updating of the National Facilitation Programme, for which this year we aim to complete the notification of the differences in compliance with ICAO Annex 9.