In accordance with the exercise plan approved by the “Facilitation and Security Committee” at the beginning of 2009, a “Full Scale Emergency Exercise” was carried out in Macau International Airport from 03:30 to 08:00 on 31 October 2009. The exercise was deemed satisfactory and achieved its goal. The exercise simulated an aircraft, en-route to Macao, made an emergency landing at the runway under unfavourable weather conditions of turbulence and thunderstorms with heavy rain. An incident occurred upon the landing which led to damages to certain parts of the aircraft. Alert by this incident, the airport declared emergency and the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) was immediately activated to conduct search and rescue work at the first instance. All the passengers and crew members, being injured to varying degrees, were rescued through the coordinated efforts rendered by the EOC. With a participation of 200 people, this exercise was coordinated by the Administration of Airports, Ltd. and joined by Unitary Police Force, Macao Customs Services, Public Security Police Force, Fire Services Bureau, Health Bureau, Maritime Administration, Civil Aviation Authority, Air Macau Company Ltd., CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd, Macau Security Company Ltd. (airport security), and Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd. In accordance with the Standards and Recommended Practices of International Civil Aviation Organization, Macau International Airport performs a full scale emergency exercise on a regular basis, with the objectives of testing and assessing the effectiveness of the Airport Emergency Plan and the Operational Plans of the responding entities in respect to command and control, coordination, communications, resource allocation and so on, so that measures contained in the Airport Emergency Plan can be reviewed and amendments be made to improving search and rescue work.
