Passengers wait at the Beirut international airport. (Credit: AFP/File photo)
BEIRUT — Air navigation services at Beirut's international airport suffer "inadequacies" that must be addressed with the "utmost urgency," an audit report by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) revealed.
The report, seen by L'Orient Today, was conducted in preparation for the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). Inadequacies found by the report include communication, navigation and other services.
ICAO, the global safety watchdog, conducts audits on its member states to measure their capability in maintaining safety measures.
Staff shortage
The report shed light on “systemic deficiencies” related to air navigation services and air traffic control (ATC), the team tasked with guiding planes to take off and land safely.
“ATC staff shortage is a serious safety issue, which could have critical repercussions for aviation in Lebanon," the report said.
The report added that it is of “crucial importance” for the Lebanese civil aviation authorities to allow “recruitment and retention of appropriately qualified and experienced ATC staff" as “a matter of utmost urgency."
"ATC staff shortage is a serious safety issue that could have critical repercussions for aviation in Lebanon. establish and implement an effective system to ensure that published procedures are subject to a periodic review, including validation, to ensure that they continue to comply with changing criteria, to confirm continued adequate obstacle clearance and that they meet use," it added.
Air traffic controllers' recruitment has been blocked for years due to political tensions over quotas for each religious sect, even though the constitution does not actually require such quotas for the ATC team as it does in other state institutions.
'Critical obstacles'
The report also calls for a "process to report any changes of the status of existing critical obstacles" obstructing navigation around the airport, as well as "any proposed development that is likely to be higher than the critical obstacles within the area to ensure that required clearance above obstacles will continue to be met."
In the past years, the Lebanese Army has several times raided nearby areas because of unauthorized construction of additional floors to buildings that would affect air traffic.
In their audit, the EASA and ICAO also call for the establishment and implementation of "regularly scheduled flight inspections to determine whether the NAVAID (navigational aid) facility performance continues to meet standards and satisfy its operational requirements."
"Lebanon shall ensure that identified safety issues are resolved in a timely manner through a system which monitors and records progress," they added.
Air traffic control issues are not new to Lebanon but have been exacerbated following the unprecedented economic crisis that Lebanon has been suffering from since 2019.
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