ACI APAC & MID Partners With ICAO to Host a Landside Security Webinar for the Middle East Region

ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) co-hosted Landside Security Webinar on 12 February 2025.  

The three-hour session brought together over 30 representatives from state regulators, airports, and airlines, providing a platform to exchange insights and explore innovative approaches to enhance landside security.

The webinar started with an opening remark by the Deputy Regional Director of ICAO Middle East office, Mr. Mohamed Smaoui, who emphasised the evolving threats of landside attacks against airports over a few years and the urgent need for the industry to step up measures for the protection of the landside area of airports.  

Landside protection remains one of the most challenging aspects of airport security, as highlighted by recent data collected by ACI among its member airports.  As a co-host of the webinar, Mr. Gary Leung, Senior Manager – Security & Facilitation, representing ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East, delivered a presentation to highlight some of the major challenges faced by airports, including the gathering of crowds inside the terminal building, limitations in infrastructure design, coordination with multiple stakeholders for emergency response, and insufficient blast mitigation measures. Also, the webinar attendees were encouraged to make use of the ACI Landside Security Handbook and other resources provided by ACI to help enhance airport security. 

Besides, a number of States, including Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, shared their national experience in enhancing landside security at their airports.