The Exercise on the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft was concluded in the early morning of 19 June 2019 in Macau International Airport to test the efficiency of the contingency plan of all relevant parties on the actions taken to handle the crisis.
The Exercise on the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft was conducted in Macau International Airport early this morning (19 June 2019) simulating the scenario of a Macao registered aircraft being unlawfully seized by a foreign political organization. The hijackers demanded the Macao SAR Government to release the imprisoned organization members in Macao and pay the ransom. Macau International Airport immediately activated the airport emergency plan to resolve the crisis. All passengers and crew members were eventually rescued. The exercise was deemed a success.
The simulated scenario was of a Macao registered aircraft being unlawfully seized by a foreign political organization who demanded to land the aircraft in Macau International Airport. The hijackers further demanded the Macao SAR Government to release two of their organization members being imprisoned in Macao and to pay the ransom of USD10 million. The hijackers also required the aircraft to fly back to their country after the Macao SAR Government has settled the first two requests. The hijackers threatened to kill all the people held captive on board, including 20 passengers 8 crew members, if their demands were not fulfilled.
The Airport Emergency Operations Centre was activated immediately after the Macau International Airport was notified of this crisis. Representatives from all involved entities arrived at the Centre to work together. Negotiations between the Judiciary Police and the hijackers were carried out; the on-scene commander eventually sent the Special Duty Unit of the Public Security Police Force to take immediate attack on the hijackers; the attack was successful and all passengers and crew members were saved.
The Exercise on the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft is carried out once every two years and is coordinated by the Public Security Police Force. The exercise of this year took place from 22:30 on 18 June to 03:00 in the next morning (19 June). The other participating entities were Unitary Police Force, Macao Customs Services, Judiciary Police,Fire Services Bureau,Health Bureau, Marine and Water Bureau, Civil Aviation Authority, CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd, Air Macau Company Ltd., Macau Security Company Ltd. (airport security)and Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd. About 250 people participated in it.
