The Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Ahmed Al-Hajjar, held a meeting this morning, devoted to discussing the measures that must be taken to reduce the threat of birds to air traffic in the vicinity of Rafic Hariri International Airport – Beirut, stressing the need for immediate and effective implementation of the Council of Ministers’ decisions related to this file.
The meeting was attended by the Governor of Mount Lebanon, Judge Muhammad Makkawi, the Commander of the Rafic Hariri International Airport – Beirut Security Service, Brigadier General Fadi Kfoury, and the Commander of the Mount Lebanon Region in the Internal Security Forces, Brigadier General Abdo Khalil.
During the meeting, Al-Hajjar stressed “the necessity of implementing the decisions of the Council of Ministers in this regard in an immediate and effective manner,” assigning the concerned authorities to work, each within the scope of their powers, to address the reasons that lead to the gathering of birds in the vicinity of the airport and reduce the dangers that they could pose to aircraft.
According to the distribution of tasks, the leadership of the airport security apparatus is responsible for taking the required measures inside the airport campus, while the Governor of Mount Lebanon and the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces are responsible for implementing the necessary procedures outside it.
It is scheduled that the procedures will be implemented outside the airport campus in coordination with the relevant municipalities and ministries, and when necessary, with the competent judiciary, while the Governor of Mount Lebanon has been assigned to hold periodic meetings to follow up on the smooth progress of implementation and ensure the implementation of the required measures.
The danger of birds is one of the sensitive issues related to the safety of air navigation, as their gathering near the take-off and landing runways can lead to them colliding with aircraft, especially during the take-off and landing phases, which are the most sensitive phases of air flight.
The importance of addressing this issue increases in the areas surrounding airports, as some sources of attraction outside the campus, such as the accumulation of waste or open water and food sources, can attract numbers of birds and increase the possibility of them approaching aircraft paths.
Addressing these dangers is therefore not limited to the measures taken inside the airport, but rather requires coordination with local authorities, security services and relevant ministries to control the factors present in the surrounding areas, which explains the distribution of tasks that was approved during the Al-Hajjar meeting.
The Ministry of Interior’s move comes within the framework of following up on the safety of the airport’s surroundings, with an emphasis on moving from decisions to field implementation, and establishing a periodic follow-up mechanism that brings together the relevant security, administrative and municipal authorities.
The periodic meetings that will be held by the Governor of Mount Lebanon will allow the follow-up of procedures outside the airport campus and address any violations or factors that may lead to attracting birds, in coordination with the competent authorities, in order to reduce the risk to aircraft movement.
