Athens International Airport Hosts Successful Emergency Preparedness Drill

Athens International Airport (AIA) in November successfully carried out a full-scale emergency exercise in coordination with all parties involved in such situations.

Titled “Incident on Airport involving aircraft: Aircraft Collision”, the exercise for 2023 aimed to test AIA’s emergency plan and ensure the highest level of readiness and training.

The exercise was arranged in accordance with the regulations of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and conducted for the first time with the participation of two airlines – AEGEAN and Volotea – and two ground handling Agents – Goldair Handling and Skyserv.

Exercise scenario

According to the scenario of the exercise:

“On November 22, 2023, an Airbus A320 aircraft of AEGEAN, with flight number A3 9999 and a crew of 2 people in the cockpit and 4 people in the passenger cabin, and a total of 54 passengers, took off from Heraklion with destination to Lyon.
At 10:30 a.m. local time, the aircraft declares emergency due to severe turbulence during the flight, that caused 3 serious injuries. There is also a report of an unconscious passenger.
The Air Traffic Control authorizes the aircraft to land in the Western Runway System.
On taxiway “A”, in the Western System, there is an Airbus A319 aircraft of Volotea, with flight number V7 2023, performing the scheduled flight from Athens to Santorini, with a crew of 2 people in the cockpit and 4 people in the passenger cabin, and a total of 30 passengers.
The Volotea aircraft cleared to take off, collides with the AEGEAN aircraft during its landing.
As a result, there are injuries in both aircraft involved, while the engine under no. 1 of Volotea’s aircraft catches fire.”

The following entities also participated in AIA’s emergency exercise: Hellenic Aviation Service Provider / Air Traffic Control Tower (HASP / ATCT); Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA); Airport Hellenic Fire Corps (AHFC); Fire Brigade (Fire brigades of neighboring communities – Koropi, Markopoulo, Pallini – personnel from the 1st EMAK & 80 students from the Fire Brigade); Airport Hellenic Police (AHP); Airport Services Emergency Medical Care (ASEMC); National Center for Emergency Assistance (NCEA); and Hellenic Air & Rail Safety Investigation Authority (HARSIA).