august2022 - 16

Cover Story
But together, Gamba points out, there
had not been a link to allow harmonization
between all three parties.
" An image that I like to use is that, as
ground handlers, we are a bit sandwiched
between the airlines and the airports, "
he continues. " In the contract we have
with airlines and the licenses with the
airports, there can be slightly different
requests, sometimes even contradictory. "
For ASA, it was necessary to
address this issue.
" It obviously differs from station to
station, from country to country and
from region to region up to a point where
sometimes there is not even a license, "
says Gamba. " Together with ACI, we
thought that this should not be the case.
We need to provide a concrete template
to the world. The template provides for
what we believe is the minimum set of
requirements between an airport and a
ground handler, irrespective of the contracts
that this ground handler has with
a specific airline. "
By addressing this, the relationship is
getting clearer, according to Gamba.
" We are offering to the community a
set of clauses that we believe should be
adopted. We believe that any relationship
needs to be framed somehow, and in the
template there are useful elements that
anyone can use, " he says.
The template has the aim to provide a
useful tool to ACI and ASA members that
are seeking to establish an agreement
between them, affirms Romig.
" This can be used for new agreements
or when renewing existing agreements.
It also aims to facilitate the dialogue
between airport operators and GHSPs
MORE ONLINE
IATA, ACA Update Standard Inflight
Catering Agreement:
ACI POLICY PAPER ON
GROUND HANDLING
The basis on which the GHSP and
Airport Operator Agreement Template
was developed is the 2016 ACI Policy
Paper on Ground Handling.
According to Thomas Romig, ACI
World's vice president of safety, security
and operations, the policy paper calls
for three strategic elements that ACI has
been advocating for: the establishment
of agreements between airports and
GHSPs, the implementation of Safety
Management Systems (SMS) by GHSPs
and the development of a global
regulatory framework for the domain of
ground handling.
" ACI has been very involved in the work
around ground handling both at the
International Civil Aviation Organization
and European Union Aviation Safety
Agency to advocate on these points
and drive these strategic objectives
forward, " says Romig.
when building up and formalizing their
relationship, " he says.
Scope of the Template
The template has the aim to formalize the
relationships between airport operators
and GHSPs, highlights Romig.
" It covers all key aspects related to
both parties' responsibilities, such as the
application of local airport rules and regulations,
coordination mechanisms established
between the parties, liability and
responsibilities, the exchange of information
and data, cooperation in case of
emergency or abnormal operations, insurance
requirements, etc., " he says. " Best
practices are at the base of the document.
They are consolidated by both ACI and
ASA - with the aim of finding a common
and balanced approach to the agreements
that are put in place. "
According to Romig, an annex on a
draft service level agreement has been
added to the template agreement.
" It has been left blank - i.e., without
targets - as these need to be identified
AviationPros.com/21275318
16 || Ground Support Worldwide || August 2022
and discussed at a local level, " says Romig.
" There are also provisions related to airport
system performance that have been
added - as the performance of a GHSPs
can have a significant impact on the
overall operation at an airport. "
In addition, the agreement template
contains provisions related to ground
damage of aerodrome infrastructure and
property, adds Romig.
" The ground damage of aircraft is not
covered in this document as it is already
covered by the agreements with air operators, "
he says.
The template has the aim to maintain
a safe and sustainable practice of ground
handling, observes Gamba.
" The airports need to bring this to the
attention of the ground handlers and the
ground handlers need to do it, " he says.
" The template is a companion of best
practice that in the experience of the
ground handlers and the airports are the
minimum to have a sustainable and safe
relationship between the airports and the
ground handlers and for the ground handlers
to ensure a good, safe and reliable
practice of their job. "
The template does not aim to become a
standard but rather to provide a method
of comparison, according to Gamba.
" The template provides for logical steps
for the ground handlers to undertake.
Most probably they are already undertaking
them in some form. If that is the
case, they do not have to do anything, "
he says. " If they are undertaking the
steps differently, they may want to ask
themselves why they are doing things
differently and perhaps get closer to what
is proposed in the template. If the ground
handlers do not undertake certain steps,
then we highly suggest that they take the
example of the wording that we are using
in the template and try to implement
accordingly. "
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DR. MARIO PIEROBON
Dr. Mario Pierobon
provides solutions in the
areas of documentation,
training and consulting to
organizations operating in
safety sensitive industries.
He has conducted
a doctoral research
project investigating aircraft ground
handling safety. He may be reached at
mariopierobon@az-all-in-one.com.
http://www.AviationPros.com/21275318
august2022

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