Qatar Airways and Hamad International Airport (HIA) have successfully concluded this year’s emergency exercise, dubbed “Delta Oryx 2017”.
The full-scale emergency exercise, which is conducted by the Hamad International Airport every two years to test the activation and functionality of its emergency facilities, was held on Thursday in co-ordination with 28 government agencies, stakeholders and partners including Qatar Coastguard, Internal Security Forces, Qatar Navy, and the Qatar Emiri Air Force.
According to Qatar Airways, the emergency simulation consisted of a crash site in the sea adjacent to the airport.
“The planned emergency simulation is an annual procedure at Qatar Airways, initiated as a means of testing emergency facilities, in addition to ensuring that our staff are well prepared to handle and deal with the situation in the most effective manner,” Qatar Airways said.
“Delta Oryx 2017” incorporated the use of a 30-seater mock aircraft, two Qatar Airways aircraft chutes, 170 volunteer passengers, 60 volunteer family members and friends, 39 dummies to display casualties, 40 ambulance response vehicles, three military helicopters, five airport safety and security vehicles, and 10 Mowasalat buses.
A military helicopter participating in ‘Delta Oryx 2017’.
Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker said: “We are very proud of the success of ‘Delta Oryx 2017’. This year’s emergency simulation aimed to challenge our employees, who responded with the upmost professionalism and sense of duty, reflecting our high standards of safety and security at Qatar Airways.”
“On behalf of Qatar Airways, I would like to thank all the government agencies, stakeholders, partners, specialised forces, volunteers and lastly our employees for co-ordinating and delivering this year’s complex, yet tremendously successful, simulated emergency exercise,” he added.
The exercise also tested specialised forces’ arrangements for rescue at sea and Hamad Medical Corporation’s emergency activation of all public hospitals and selected primary healthcare facilities.
On the HIA’s successful completion of the emergency exercise, HIA chief operating officer Badr Mohamed al-Meer said: “We at HIA strive for excellence in everything we do, including our preparedness in a crisis, which is why this exercise, being HIA’s third full-scale exercise, simulated an aircraft incident at sea, not within the confines of the airport.”
In accordance with the requirements established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), airports are required to hold an emergency exercise every two years to fulfil their licensing requirements.
As an airport directly located beside the sea, HIA is also required by ICAO international regulations to ensure adequate emergency procedures are in place in the event that occupants are to be rescued from an aircraft that has crashed into the sea.
Al-Baker with the Qatar Airways Group Emergency Management Team.
