Mangaluru International Airport Conducts Mangalam 2022 at Night to Test Emergency Preparedness

2022-11-12

Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) in association with the Dakshina Kannada District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) conducted Mangalam 2022, a scheduled mock full-scale aerodrome emergency exercise (FSAEE) in the early hours of November 11. MIA conducted the exercise in accordance with the guidelines given by Directorate General of Civil Aviation and recommendation of Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The 75-minute exercise that culminated at 1.38am envisaged a pre-defined specific scenario chosen by the airport and was performed accordingly. The exercise involved a collaborative action by all the stakeholders at the airport, who responded as per the roles and responsibilities given to them. MIA had conducted a similar exercise on May 22. 2022 as per MoCA recommendation to the airport to hold it annually.

The objective of this exercise is to strengthen and validate the efficiency and efficacy of airport operator and various stakeholders to deal with an actual emergency. Additionally, it was also to strengthen and validate the process set up in aerodrome emergency response plan and of the airlines and the procedures followed by all other stakeholders is at high benchmark to handle an emergency in a systematic way in any such a scenario.

Independent observers consisting of domain experts from the DDMA and aviation sector assessed the reaction of various stakeholders to the created scenario. MIA recorded the valuable observations in the debriefing meeting. The observers appreciated the airport for coming up initiatives with different emergency scenarios, which will give all stakeholders the continued confidence to tackle the resultant situation, with efficiency

The FSAEE was conducted keeping the safety, security, and passenger well-being as a priority always. These statutory drills are in line with the steadfast readiness of the airport to deal with emergency situations.