Air Cargo Operations and Security

Air Cargo Operations and Security
Final Paper
April 27, 2019
Introduction and the Economic Impacts of the Aviation Industry
Sixty-five million jobs and 2.7 trillion dollars in the global gross domestic product has been supported by the air transport industry for a series of years. In comparison with the GDP contribution of other sectors, the world's air transport is greater than any other manufacturing divisions such as pharmaceutical and automobile. In fact, 454 billion dollars induced GDP influence worldwide is supported by employees in the trade both directly and indirectly using their income to purchase goods and services for their own consumption. Thus, it simply proves that air and aviation trade is a driver of the global company and a key component of the global business in the present (Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders, 2019).
Air cargo system has been one of the assets in the aviation workforce. It is an intricate, multi-faceted network accountable for transferring the vast amount of freight, express packages, and mail carried aboard passenger and all-cargo aircraft. In the US, air cargo has been responsible for the 26.2 % value of goods shipped to and from the country making it a vital component of several global supply chains, used primarily for the transfer of time-sensitive products (Elias, 2007). With that said, some economic enthusiasts suggest that trading across the globe provided twice the rate of global GDP growth, making the world economies to be more reliant to the international trade over the next decade (Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders, 2019). Despite these circumstances, air cargo also faces potential security risks associated with its operation. These include shipment of incendiary, explosive equipment and introduction of cargo crime comprising theft and smuggling, which mark as serious threats to the success of the emerging markets of air shipment in the aviation industry. Analyzing and understanding numerous scholarly investigations and studies about air cargo operations and security is the main objective of this article. Hereby, airport and load operations will be profoundly examined, challenges connected to facility security will also be emphasized in order for us to understand the air transport facilities intensively and possible assessments and solutions to undertake will also take into account in addressing issues about air freight security.
Overview of the Airport Operations
An airport is a facility that provides an interface between the surface mode and air mode of transportation. It serves as a marketable enterprise and a business intermediate with essential regional and local economic gains. An airport is classified into 3 main parts. The landslide is the area that is accessible to the general public, both for the passengers and the non-travelers. It is where the airport transport begins and ends, which are composed of road networks, parking lots, and advertising spaces. The terminal is the second major section of an airway, where transaction across land and air mode take place. In this segment, check-in, ticketing, biometric recognition, and pre-boarding inspection procedures were administered to the passengers for evaluation before the flight. Air freight, luggage, and baggage screening were also done in this section to promote safe aircraft travel and rovers' protection. The last, but definitely the most important part, is airside. In this portion of the airport, only the staffs and passengers holding valid board cards are allowed to enter. This is commonly denoted also as the sterile area on which aircraft were checked accurately by the ground facilities, and operated according to good meteorological conditions and other safety guidelines of aviation transport and traffic control (Sumathi and Parthasarathi, 2018).
Airport operations were subdivided into two main categories-the services to be provided for the passengers, and the ground services. Travelers are the major stakeholders of any air transport industry and to satisfy them is the best indicator of success. In order to assure quality services rendered to the customers, several coordinating bodies were working to meet this requirement such as airline visibility and branding, staffing, coordination, catering, and customer service. Airline visibility and branding department is in charge of the following: establishing signage for smooth transition of passengers and easy reference, setting accountable attire for contract employees so that travelers will be catered with appropriate procedures and not be misled, and building up of flight information display software so to inform the customers of the departure and arrival of delayed aircrafts. Staffing department has been kept responsible for the passenger check-in, reservation, and boarding procedure. Whereas, coordination tasks to manage problems encounter at one stage; catering for the food and beverages services for crew and commuters; customer service for the emergency and protection concerns of the passengers. (Sumathi and Parthasarathi, 2018).
Ground Services and Ground Handling Challenges
Ground Services is also another category of airport operation. Ground handling is associated with duties along with runways between the periods of landing and take-off. These include transport of luggage to proper destinations, fueling of planes, aircraft parking assistance and marshaling, flight operations and tracking of the airliner (Asri, et al., 2018). Since ground operations are involved in all facets of aircraft control, as well as, the movement of the airliner around the aerodrome, safety challenges affecting the ground operations arise in the fragment or directly from these services. Aircraft involved in collisions with another airliner when moving; airplane damages caused by wreckage left on steering areas; and jet efflux posing a hazard to small aircraft are some of the frequent cases directly distressing safe ground operations. In fact, last May 13, 2018, people were surprised when an Asiana A330 took out the tail of a Turkish A321 at the Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. According to the report, Both the Asiana and the Turkish may not be paying attention to the ground crew's signal during the taxiing in Asiana, and the stand operation in the Turkish. Minimal casualties had taken effect in both aircraft since none of the passengers were been hurt. However, due to the incident, flight cancellation has been mandatory as a protocol leaving the airline to lose certain costs from the accident (Schlappig, 2018).
Aside from the direct impacts, some safety threats also happen during the grounding of the aircraft for departure. These include incorrect loading of the airliner, particularly of its load and luggage, comprising dangerous goods; insufficient quantity and unverified quality of fuels; and miscommunication between the aircraft loading information to the airplane commander (Skybrary, 2017). Issues in air cargo security have been another alarming challenge faced by the aviation industry pertaining to ...