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Signature Helps Set New FBO Security
It's a different world now, and one of the cherished perquisites
of the business flyer, the ability to step from car to airplane,
is fast becoming but a fond memory.
Security has been vastly tightened at commercial airports; less
heralded are increased controls at FBOs. There are, after all,
more than 8,600 aircraft operated by NBAA members, all of them,
we have jarringly learned, with the potential to be turned into
weapons.
FBOs are stepping up security. "We're taking steps beyond
what FAA has mandated," says Steve Lee, marketing chief at
Orlando-headquartered Signature Flight Support. His boss, Signature
president and CEO Beth Haskins, is in the thick of the scramble
to improve GA security, traveling to Washington since the attacks
for meetings at NATA and with task forces organized by Transportation
Secretary Norm Mineta.
"Until permanent security measures are in place, we feel
it's necessary to limit access to the AOA," Haskins told
Show News. Signature, which operates at more than 40 domestic
locations, has hired outside security personnel and has tasked
its own people with increased security responsibilities.
Among Signature's measures,
· Picture-ID flight crew identification to gain ramp
access;
· Flight crews required to identify (though not necessarily
name) all passengers before they can go on the ramp;
· FBO employees to escort flight crew and passengers
to their aircraft, or in some cases maintain line-of-sight surveillance
with binoculars, while disembarking passengers are likewise escorted
from aircraft to terminal;
· "All flight crews and passengers will be required
to walk directly, and as a group, to their aircraft and not delay
entering their aircraft;"
· Issuance of special codes on the arrival of transient
flight crews to guarantee that the same people return to their
respective aircraft; and
· No cars or limousines on the Signature ramp.
"We are still open for business," says Lee. "This
event is not paralyzing us."
That said, numerous airports remain closed as of this writing,
more than a week after the attacks.
-Rich Piellisch
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