The Airport of Coruña was the scene this morning of an air hijacking simulation, on the initiative of the State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA), with the active participation of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Ministry of the Interior (Secretariat of State for Security, National Police and Civil Guard), the Air and Space Army, Aena, ENAIRE and the Subdelegation of the Government in Coruña.
The aim of this type of exercise is to keep the personnel involved in an event of this nature trained and to corroborate the proper implementation of the applicable regulations. In addition, conclusions will be obtained that allow to improve the operation in case of a real incident.
The design and planning work of this simulation, including technical training sessions, was carried out in advance and the exercise was carried out at the time when the airport estimated that there would be no interference in the normal development of airport operations.
The simulation consisted of the following:
The hijacking of an aircraft in flight, simulating a general aviation flight, ceded for the occasion by the Air and Space Army. After taking off from Madrid, the commander of the aircraft communicates with the Air Traffic Control Center that there has been a kidnapping.
Once the illegal seizure was confirmed, the relevant security protocols were activated, and the corresponding Air Hijacking Intervention Committees stipulated in the regulations in force were formed, chaired, at the airport level, by the Subdelegation of the Government in Coruña and, at the national level, in a simulated manner, by the Secretariat of State for Security. For its part, the Air and Space Army exercised its assigned tasks in this type of situation through the air defense system and permanent alert aircraft that protect the airspace of national sovereignty.
The hijackers were then approached to learn of their claims, according to the simulation project, and to initiate appropriate actions to release the hostages and regain control of the aircraft. After several hours of negotiation, the passengers and crew were released, the incident was concluded and the security devices were deactivated.
After the exercise, experts from all the entities involved began the evaluation work to obtain the corresponding lessons.