DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA) conducted a planned emergency exercise in April to rehearse its emergency management programme and response functions.
The annual exercise is part of QA’s commitment to ensure its staff are prepared to handle an emergency situation in a timely and effective manner.
The emergency exercise activated and deployed a number of the airline’s key crisis elements, including the QA Group Emergency Control Centre, Integrated Operations Centre, Deployed Response Group, Special Assistance Team and Media Enquiry Centre.
A global emergency scenario was devised by the airline’s Group Safety and Security department including pre-defined challenges that were injected throughout the exercise. The use of satellite communications tools, and emergency communications platforms together with simulated television news broadcasts and social media reports of the emergency were created and viewed by staff in the Group Emergency Control Centre, to give the activity an additional aspect of realism and immediacy.
Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive, Qatar Airways Group, led the exercise: “QA has built a culture and workforce that is committed to safety, with good practice at the core of everything we do across the airline.
“We have a comprehensive emergency management programme in place and diligently work with our employees to ensure we consistently achieve and maintain our high standards, and that the comfort, safety and security of passengers and staff remains a priority. At the station level, each QA destination has a Local Emergency Response Plan, which is tailored to comply with local regulations and specific airport emergency requirements.
“Regularly and thoroughly exercising our emergency responses is an opportunity for QA to perform and enhance its day-to-day preparatory activities, strengthen critical professional skills and to incorporate lessons learned from across the aviation industry.”
Al Baker led the emergency exercise to ensure the airline is always prepared to handle an emergency situation in a timely and effective manner.
The Peninsula
