First annual session of the National Civil Aviation Security Committee

Published: Monday, 19 October 2020 10:50

The Minister of Transport Mr. NGALLE Bibehe Ernest Massena chaired the first meeting of the year on Friday, October 16, 2020 in the presence of various resource persons and many guests.

 

The meeting focused on the security situation at Cameroon's airports and the threat assessment.

On the eve of the security audit scheduled in 2021 by ICAO and in anticipation of major sporting events, the African Nations Championship and the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled in 2021 and 2022, in our country, it is imperative that the Cameroonian sky be increasingly safe. Hence the invitation of the Minister of Transport to all administrations present on our airport platforms to a very active and seamless collaboration in the surveillance of our airports. Airports which for some are faced with intrusions that can sometimes be precursors of unlawful acts.

The MINT also called on the media to act as a partner in raising awareness among residents of the airport neighborhood to keep runways from being trespassed or used as shortcuts to farms and for hiking.

It should be noted that this NCASC session was held in a context where the global and local environment is facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Civil Aviation sector in particular, has been strongly impacted since the occurrence of this pandemic. There has been a decline in the income of employed personnel, the bankruptcy of airlines and massive job cuts. And some structures of the sector in Cameroon have had to lay off staff.

IATA forecasts indicate that the full return to economic performance of the aviation sector in 2019 is not expected before 2023-2024.

Fortunately, many measures to ensure a sanitary environment conducive to the protection of air passengers and personnel of the entire aviation industry against the Covid-19 pandemic have been issued by the Government of Cameroon.

One of the flagship directives is the requirement for passengers bound for Cameroon to present at the point of departure the result of a negative PCR test which dates less than 72 hours before boarding.

The NCASC meeting also served as a framework to review the impact of COVID-19, the system put in place at the airports and the new attitudes to be adopted by potential passengers on their outbound and return journeys; as well as other points such as the phenomenon of luggage carriers and the illegal exchange of currency at our airports mentioned during the discussions.

For this reason, MINT urged the various administrations and structures of the sector to be more professional in the execution of their respective missions at the airports. This to further reassure the various visitors on the security of the Cameroon destination.