By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCCA) has given the assurance that the authority will show no sign of slowing down in the fulfillment of its obligations to safeguard safety at the Banjul International Airport (BIA).
GCCA on Monday launched a series of activities at the Terminal of the Banjul International Airport to celebrate its 2023 Safety Week.
As part of the weeklong commemorative events, airport staff, their family, and communities around the BIA will be involved in activities geared towards addressing safety and fostering thesafety culture. The unsung heroes of GCCA and stakeholders will be also celebrated through exhibitions, videos, and walk-for-health among a plethora of associated events.
The theme for this year’s commemorations is Promoting People Working Behind the Scenes in the Realization of Safety in Aviation.
In his statement delivered on his behalf by GCAA’s director of human resources Fatou Jallow, the GCAA boss Nfansu Bojangsaid: “The theme has been rightly chosen for the celebration,prompting people working behind the scenes to be aware of safety around the airport. As an international airport, BIA continues to work tirelessly to ensure that there are enough competent personnel to effectively manage risk and to ensure safe and effective operational activity. We are also prepared for any operational challenges and external threats by not pushing the boundaries of rules. We also ensure we are training everyone, be it staff or stakeholders, to have a mindset that encourages collaborative safety in terms of interventions and conversations.”
According to Mr. Bojang, it’s equally part of GCCA’s mandate to guard and uphold strong safety protocols to maintain a vibrant airport of choice in the aviation industry.
He made an impassioned call on all and sundry for the galvanization of efforts towards creating the synergies needed to maintain the “enviable safety credentials that BIA has been known for over the years”.
The acting director general of the Gambia International Airlines(GIA) was represented at the launch by the Station Manager of the airline Omar Ceesay.
The GIA acting DG pointed out that safety is everyone’sconcern. “Safety starts on the ground. Those of us at the ground handling department of GIA have made it an enormous task to have safety realized at BIA,” he stated
He described this year’s theme for Safety Week as a big statement. “And I believe, with the commitment and collaboration of everyone of us, we should be able to achieve this. However, GIA has done a lot of safety awareness trainingwith our team of load controllers, the team of dedicated checking staff-passenger handling team-aircraft servicing staff, the marshaling team, the aircraft marshaling team, and thecleaning team,” he explained.
“GIA has realized that training, though it is expensive, cannot be ignored completely. So, we have made lots of efforts to make sure our operational staff are duly trained in all the areas of aviation safety in order to deliver effective and efficient ground-handling services to all our airlines,” he added.
The speakers on the occasion expressed the commitment to ensure BIA remains safe for passengers and workers through themaintenance of high safety standards there at all times.
