Scenario: In autumn, visibility is poor at Cologne Bonn Airport and ensuring that all air traffic runs smoothly is a task requiring Herculean organization. Over 300 emergency service staff and “extras” are holding an emergency drill at the airport.  For the participants, the staged collision of two passenger aircraft looks terrifyingly real. As an international commercial airport, Cologne Bonn is obliged to hold major exercises like the one staged in October 2006, in compliance with the directives of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). FACT24 Notification and Conferencing Service has proved its value in these exercises, as well as in many critical situations.

Cologne Bonn Airport has incorporated FACT24 Notification and Conferencing Service into its emergency management plans since 2000. For many years, secondary alerting at the airport was conducted manually by telephone from the head office of the airport fire service. However, the procedure was dogged by the restrictions of the telephone system, and the airport had reached the limits of the requirements for a modern commercial airport. The alerting process was far too time-consuming and laborious.

Michael Herpers, Technical Emergency Operations Manager of the airport fire service, particularly appreciates FACT24’s ease of operation and convenient management of alarm scenario data.  “FACT24 not only saves us the costs of operating our own alarm server. In addition, we always have the use of state-of-the-art technology.  In the event of a major emergency, our own hardware or telephone systems could also be affected. However, FACT24 guarantees availability of 99.98%”, adds fire service representative Herpers. FACT24 will shortly be integrated with Cologne Bonn Airport's own emergency management system.

Find out more about FACT24 at Cologne Bonn Airport. The Case Study is available as a downloadable PDF under Markets & References / Transport & Logistics.