The U.S. Transportation Security Administration says “no deficiencies were observed” during a recent assessment of Argyle International Airport, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has announced.
He told a press conference in Kingstown on Tuesday that at the conclusion of the visit, the TSA discussed the results of the assessment with airport and other officials of the government.
There are various areas and summary results and for each of them, the measures were at an acceptable level, the prime minister said.
Gonsalves said those areas were airport operation, quality control, access control, airport security, passenger and cabin baggage security, hold baggage security, cargo mail and other goods security, special categories of passengers, acts of unlawful interference prevention, and landside security.
“All of them, the measures, were at an acceptable level by the Transport Safety Administration of the USA.”
The prime minister said it was pleasing to note that in so far as the operation of the airport, which opened in February 2017, is concerned, he had said on a previous occasion that TSA had done an assessment that the matter which had to be addressed was to have an airport security programme in addition to a national security plan.
Those protocols were to be in writing so that everyone could follow them, he said.
“And we are waiting on the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority to approve that and that was approved by the Cabinet earlier and, of course, it was done since February last year by ECCA.
“So that one of the things which a number of people don’t understand is that even though you are doing things for an international airport or to satisfy the TSA, or even when you are satisfying ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) conditions, you may be doing some things but you have to have it in writing so that everybody knows what they are following.
“You can’t just be doing it as though is some document reserved for one set of people. Everybody who is involved in this must know this document, have to be trained in relation to it,” Gonsalves said.
thumbs up to AIA
I would like to think that something like this.should be in writing.so what the prime Minister should be doing.was to give the documents to the media.and if he wants to elaborate he can do that.