On Friday September 12th, 2019, two security breaches occurred at Munich and Hamburg airports in Germany within the span of half a day.

The Munich Airport incident: An unauthorized individual at Munich International Airport’s Terminal 1 went through an alarm-secured door on Friday morning, causing police to temporarily close off parts of the airport, and many departing flights to be delayed.

The Hamburg Airport incident: Authorities were forced to close security check-points at Hamburg International Airport on Friday evening, after a man was able to board a flight without a boarding pass. Five arriving flights were diverted to nearby airports, and eleven flights were cancelled (ICTS Bulletin 03.2019).

Toronto Pearson Airport had a similar incident in 2006. When an intruder cannot be found, planes must remain on the ground until the airport is deemed safe. This can result in a large number of delayed and cancelled flights, which can translate into millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Guarding an access control point requires the same attention as driving – avoid distractions! Car accidents occur when you least expect it. The same goes for security breaches. You could be attentive for majority of your shift but the breach may occur in the time that you were distracted. Remember these incidents the next time you are tempted with distractions on the job and remember to always stay alert!

We had a fantastic turnout for our Summer Town Hall!

It was such a pleasure to have hosted my first Town Hall for the OSR team on June 22nd, 2019. I am truly grateful for all the great feedback, questions and suggestions that came out of this session

To whom it may concern,

This letter is to thank the security staff that assisted my husband and I on February 6th. The weather was terrible that day, which I imagine makes everyone’s job at the airport more difficult. My husband and I got separated and he suffered a seizure. After assessments from EMS, we decided to proceed home. I was so grateful to the staff, especially your Terminal 3 security supervisor Reyaz Prahalad. He personally escorted us to another terminal so we could catch a Greyhound home, as our flight was delayed. His compassion and kindness went above and beyond what I would expect from anyone.

Sincerely, Nicky Kozoriz

Elizabeth Warwick, our new Quality Assurance Manager, delivered our first ASP dispatch course on June 3rd.

I’m happy to report all three highly qualified participants are doing very well under Beth’s guidance.

Elizabeth is not only delivering the course, but has built it from ground up, slide by slide, including all 520 slides, as well as a full course facilitator guide, activities, job aids and exams/quizzes.

I am very proud of Elizabeth’s progress at ASP in her very short tenure at ASP!

With weather that was a little chilly, our Calgary Stampede breakfast turned into a great success.

Individuals started lining up at 7:45 in the morning and the line remained until 9:30 a.m.

Over 400 Calgary International Airport employees attended the breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. It was a fun-filled day and the team building we achieved is an even bigger success.

YYC held a very successful job fair on May 23rd at Calgary International Airport (YYC).

We had over 96 potential candidates show up for interviews and orientation, which was quite an experience for all of us.

Kudos to Maria Kalomiris, our HR coordinator, for putting this together, and Elizabeth Warwick, our quality assurance manager, for helping in the interview process. Having that many candidates show up was a challenge with several takeaways to be implemented prior to the next job fair.

Overall, it was fun and a success!

Summer has arrived, and, as usual, our services are in high demand at all locations. Our clients depend on ASP to be prepared to support their facilities with the various services that we provide.

Whether you are working in a security or customer service role, it is important for all of us to complement our clients core businesses and ensure safe, secure and efficient customer focused services.

Throughout the spring, we have been recruiting at all of our locations to make sure that we have the resources available and trained to meet the anticipated demand. Every employee plays a key role in contributing to our success.

I wrote about the importance of teamwork in the last newsletter and I think we have great teams throughout the organization that support each other daily.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation for your daily efforts in making ASP a successful service provider.

I hope everyone has some time this summer to enjoy with family and friends.

Work safe and chat soon,

Jim

Bristol Airport has re-appointed ICTS UK & Ireland as its Security partner, responsible for the provision of security services at the Airport.

“We are absolutely delighted to continue our long-standing partnership with Bristol Airport. We have supported the Airport through its business growth and significant expansion during the last few years and celebrate their 2018 record passenger numbers which reached over 8.6 million.

ICTS is fully committed to delivering the very best service to Bristol Airport and its passengers.

We are excited and look forward to this next phase and to being a part of the Airport’s plans to develop the region’s international gateway” said Levent Ural, Director of Operations – Aviation Security Services, ICTS UK & Ireland.

“We are pleased ICTS has been successful in securing the contract for security services at Bristol Airport, continuing the long-standing business partner relationship. It is important to select a business partner that is able to provide the commitment, flexibility and diversity of services an airport requires and ICTS has both the capability and breadth of experience needed to meet this requirement, and we look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with them.” Graeme Gamble, Chief Operating Officer, Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport is one of the 11 Airports in the UK and Ireland at which ICTS provides security services. ICTS is extremely proud of its long-serving partnership with Bristol Airport, which dates back to 2007.

After several months of extensive searching through countless resumes and several interviews, I am happy to announce that the YYC ASP Team is now complete.

In a few weeks, the new members of the Team will be fully trained and ready to participate and add their expertise to the existing group. A stable foundation has been laid out and the Team needs to be proactive and innovative to be successful.

As an ISO certified company, ASP is consistently looking for new ways to improve process with integrated technologies.

With front-line teams in five major Canadian airports, we are collecting enormous amounts of valuable data. This data can not only be used to drive better business for us, but for our clients as well.

We are currently conducting data mapping processes that will allow is to connect data from all ASP’s lines of business. Early in Q3, we plan to work with select clients to develop customized dash boards that illustrate everything, from our front-line team performance to passenger satisfaction and other customized data sets to help improve the way we all serve our customers and the travelling public. We are also looking at technology that will allow us to improve on the security services that we provide through Bluetooth Beacons and other location tracking systems.

Our computer-based training system (CBT) continues to evolve and offers the best in up-to-date, real-time on the job training (OJT) to our front-line teams. This maximizes the time on the floor for our teams and ensures that all employees have the most up-to-date information and training. As technology advances and the customer facing landscape evolves, ASP will continue to be on the forefront of the technology trends and innovations.