On October 8, a training exercise, part of the Emergency Rescue Plan was held at Varna Airport. For the training, a scenario was developed to refabricate an aviation accident with a passenger aircraft. The accident was followed by a number of subsequent case studies, aimed at further complicating and intensifying the rescue operations and activities of the Emergency Operations Center.

Within the framework of the training, the following aspects were tested, checked, and timed:

• Emergency rescue equipment
• Interaction between the stakeholder groups involved in the exercise
• Automatic announcement system
• Fire extinguishing
• Arrival time of emergency vehicles to the scene of the accident
• Evacuation procedures
• First aid administration to the wounded
• Assistance to uninjured passengers and crew members
• Work process of the Emergency Operations Center

During the debriefing session, Frank Quante, CEO of Fraport Twin Star Airport Management AD thanked everyone for their active participation in the training and useful feedback aimed to improve the actions of all parties involved in the Emergency Rescue Services in the future. “The airport safety & security operations are the main priority for us. The more we are prepared, the more we will achieve and we must continue working in this direction.”  

“We are in process of implementing new elements into our training exercises including using modern communication tools so to increase the speed of communication, as well as speed up the documentation flow. This will enable us to match our operations with the new realities of the present situation,” added the Director of Varna Airport, Dimitar Kostadinov.  

The next full-scale emergency and rescue training exercise is planned in April next year. It will include the participation of all external institutional stakeholders, including regional medical centers and hospitals, the Air Traffic Control center, Border Police, the Regional Fire Safety and Protection of the Population Directorate, and Regional Center 112.