Effects of the Adoption of International Civil Aviation Organization Security Preventive Measures: A Case Study of Juba International Airport

Abstract

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) came up with standard of security requirements and best practices for maintaining safety and security of international air travel across the globe. The importance of such standards led to the use of the ICAO standards at actual airport like the Juba International Airport (JIA) in its efforts to enhance its security systems. However, their application may vary in terms of effectiveness of their implementation, and the scarcity of resources as well as the need to train, which could hinder their optimal adherence. This study has analysed the effectiveness of the implementation of ICAO security preventive measures in the JIA, South Sudan, and how these measures effective in curbing security threat. This study was conducted to examine the implementation of the ICAO security standards and recommended practices (SARP) in the airport including passenger screening, access control, baggage and aircraft security and handling. Specific objectives were to determine the efficiency of the ICAO measures on security preventive measures implemented, to investigate the level of understanding of the employees on the security measures implemented in JIA, to ascertain the level to which the JIA was prepared to the implemented ICAO measures and to determine whether the implementation had some challenges. The target population consisted of 132 security officers in various categories in JIA where 100 of the security officers were sampled in the study. It employed mixed method and employed qualitative and quantitative techniques of data collection and analysis. Security officers were administered with a questionnaire to give details of the ICAO security measures usage and utility. The airport management was also interviewed extensively. Data analysis happened through the use of the statistical package of the social sciences. These findings revealed that ICAO security preventative measures installed at JIA were seen to be effective by the majority of the participants as 74 percent of the respondents noted that the passenger and luggage screening operations were being conducted appropriately. However, some challenges such as the resource shortage and the need of the enhanced trainings were identified, and 69% of the respondents identified resource shortage as one of the greatest setbacks. The research established the weaknesses and strengths of the ICAO security measures. Whereas the degree of awareness and the perceived effectiveness was high among the security personnel, limitation of resources and lack of training was found to be a barrier to implementation. This inform the airport managers, the regulatory agencies and the airlines their security infrastructure and training the airport employees. These issues are crucial and need to be addressed to manage security and ensure better experience of passengers at JIA.