The exercise on unlawful seizure of aircraft was smooth and deemed to have reached its goal with all passengers and crew members rescued.
The exercise on unlawful seizure of aircraft, which is held once every two years, was conducted in Macau International Airport early this morning (20 October 2017). It simulated the scenario of a foreign aircraft being unlawfully seized by a political organization of that country. The hijackers demanded the Macao SAR government to impose pressure on the government of their country to release the imprisoned organization members. Macau International Airport immediately activated the emergency plan to resolve the crisis. All passengers and crew members were eventually rescued. The exercise was smooth and deemed to have reached its goal.
The simulated scenario was of an aircraft being unlawfully seized by some members of a foreign political organization who requested to land the aircraft in Macau International Airport. The hijackers demanded the Macao SAR Government to impose pressure on the government of their country to release the organization members who were imprisoned and to assist the organization to become independent. The hijackers were armed with weapons and threatened to kill the passengers on the plane who were held captive. When the captain of the aircraft notified the airport control tower of the incident, the control tower immediately sent out notification in accordance with the airport emergency plan. The Airport Emergency Operations Centre was activated and representatives from all involved entities arrived at the Centre to resolve the crisis. Negotiations between the Judiciary Police and the hijackers were carried out; the commander-on-scene 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 simulation took place from 00:00 to 04:00 in the morning and was led by the Public Security Police Force who acted as the coordinator. 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, Administration of Airports, Ltd., Air Macau Company Ltd., Macau Security Company Ltd. (airport security) and Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd. About 250 people participated in it.
For the purpose of testing and assessing the efficiency of the airport emergency plan and the action plans of the various participating entities in order that the capacity of the entities and the personnel involving in airport security can be enhanced, Macau International Airport carries out a security exercise once every year. Although Macao is considered a low risk place in terms of terrorism, the need to guarantee the safety of passengers and their properties is always kept as the priority work by the Facilitation and Security Committee. With this aim in mind, the Committee plans for a security exercise in the yearly schedule of events, which is a practice that is higher than the standard set by the International Civil Aviation Organization which only requires it to be held once every two years.
