Protection of Air Transport Against Acts of Unlawful Interference: What's Next?

Abstract

Air transport consists in moving people or goods by air. Aircrafts, known as the main means of air transport, can be divided into two categories: airplanes and helicopters. Such transport is the most modern and the most dynamically developing branch of transport. It is also considered to be the safest mode of transport, even though, for various reasons, aviation accidents still occur.

Security in aviation has various connotations. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), it is a state in which the possibility of damage to persons or property is minimized and is maintained as part of a continuous process of hazard identification and safety risk management at an acceptable level or below this acceptable level. Aviation security includes flight safety and aviation security against acts of unlawful interference. There is a significant difference between the meaning of  "safety" and "security". The first of these concepts means preventing unintentional damage, while the second refers to the procedures undertaken in order to prevent deliberate damage resulting from an intentional act.

As it appears from the abovementioned information, the immovable part of aviation safety is aircraft protection, including the protection of civilian airports.

The aim of the article is to draw attention to the problems of air transport security, including the security of airports, related to the evolution of threats and the functioning of the airport security system.

The problem that the authors address is expressed in a question: in what directions should the current solutions in the field of air transport security be improved in order to effectively prevent acts of unlawful interference in the future?

Theoretical research methods, such as the analysis and synthesis of information contained in literature and source materials, inference, comparison, were used to develop the article.