Assessment of the impact of epidemic threats on airport processes

Epidemics are one of the modern threats to civil aviation. In the first half of 2020, the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19 disease) has thrown governments in many countries into a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The restrictions and limitations imposed on the movement of people, but also other effects of the outbreak, led to a significant decrease in air traffic and a crisis at airports. This paper contains an assessment of the impact of an epidemic emergency situation on airport operations, made from the point of view of international airports located in Poland. First of all, epidemic procedures at airports are briefly discussed based on the literature. Then, the author's diagram of the airport's operation processes was presented, and the critical and key processes were identified among them. In the next part of the paper, the identification of threats to the operations of the airport resulting from the epidemic threat was identified, based in particular on the Safety Information Bulletins issued by EASA in 2020 and the author's knowledge. These threats, through the BIA analysis, their impact on the previously indicated critical and key processes and on the safety and security level at the airport were determined. Conclusions resulting from the analysis, along with a proposal of directions for further activities in the scope of the discussed issues, were summarized at the end of the paper.