Measures to Strengthen Airport Ground Handling Safety Including Introduction of Equipment Sharing System

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it has established the "Ground Handling Safety Management Enhancement Plan" to improve airport ground handling services and safety.

The ground handling sector plays an essential role in overall aircraft operations by connecting passengers, cargo, and aviation, ensuring safety and punctuality. However, excessive competition among handling companies and accelerated equipment aging have led to a decline in service quality and continuous safety incidents.

In fact, among a total of 3,108 specialized ground handling vehicles such as aircraft towing vehicles and baggage loading vehicles, 745 vehicles (24%) have exceeded their usage period of 20 years. All 14 safety incidents that occurred last year were found to be caused by negligence and poor management.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that based on opinions gathered through meetings with labor unions and ground handling companies, it has prepared a safety management enhancement plan that includes a "Service Quality Management System" and an "Equipment Sharing System."

The Service Quality Management System is a system that, during the business license approval process for ground handling companies, additionally reviews overall safety management, labor-management relations, and working conditions, as well as business capabilities.

Previously, only business plans and handling capabilities were checked during the license approval review for ground handling companies, but starting next year, items such as safety management systems, subcontracting management, existence of labor union collective agreements, and efforts to improve working conditions will be included in the review criteria.

After license approval, airport operators and handling companies will sign a service agreement that includes safety rules and provision of infrastructure, and compliance with the agreement will be evaluated annually. Incentives will also be provided to companies with excellent evaluations.

Additionally, an equipment sharing system will be introduced where airport operators purchase expensive eco-friendly ground equipment and ground handling companies use them together through a rental method.

This will alleviate workplace congestion caused by each handling company deploying similar equipment on site, reduce equipment purchase costs, and is expected to decrease carbon emissions due to the introduction of eco-friendly equipment.

The Ministry plans to promote a pilot project for the equipment sharing system next year through consultations with airport operators, handling companies, and labor unions.

Furthermore, to improve workplace congestion, additional dedicated parking lots for storing idle equipment will be secured. A "vehicle tracking system" that regularly monitors vehicle locations and operation records to support vehicle operation will also be developed and introduced, along with improvements to working conditions such as repairing convenience facilities and uneven surfaces in work areas.

Joo Jong-wan, Director of Airport Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "We will continuously gather opinions from various related organizations during the process of preparing detailed implementation plans in a way that does not affect existing worker employment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.