Airport security under new management |22 May 2009

SCAA chief executive Gilbert Faure made the official announcement yesterday that it has taken over control of the Aviation Security (Avsec) Unit from the police.

He said talks are still going on with the Police Department to improve the service and to clearly establish each organisation’s specific roles at the airports.

The police unit at Seychelles International Airport, which has been one of the main security forces there since its opening, will stay where it is but will limit itself purely to enforcing law and order and doing other police-related duties.

The SCAA, which was created in April 2005, is a member of the International Civil Aviation Authority, whose auditors have been coming regularly to make sure the airports meet international standards. After the 2008 visit, a recommendation was made to pass on all security-related duties to the local aviation authority.

Mr Faure said that even before they took charge of all the security functions they were carrying out certain such duties.

“We ensure the safety of passengers from the moment they arrive at the airport to when they arrive at their destination,” he said.

“We also mount full-time patrols of our airport compound and all our equipment, including our aircraft.”

Avsec Unit head Dobin Samson said his priority is to ensure his entire staff are trained, tested and certified to meet international standards in their work and also to review and improve all the existing norms and procedures.

And although it has enough equipment, the unit will soon carry out an exercise to recruit more manpower. It now has a total of 100 staff on Mahe and Praslin and is planning to double that number.