By the way … what is the meaning of AVSEC? What sensitive challenges are hiding behind this odd acronym?

AVSEC is a terminology officialized by the civil aviation international regulation. It is the contraction of «Aviation Security».

Before going any further, and to avoid any misunderstanding, it is important to differentiate the security from another important subject area in aviation: the safety.

Each of these specialties has its own formal definition designed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nation Organization (UN) agency for civil aviation:

Security. “Safeguarding civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference. This objective is achieved by a combination of measures and human and material resources”.

Therefore, Aviation security aims at enhancing the prevention of malicious and deliberate acts and at mitigating their potential consequences.

This definition, mentioned in the Annex 17 (Security) to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, is the base frame and the justification of all the security measures applying to all the air transport stakeholders.

Comparatively, the ICAO Annex 19 (Safety Management) contains the following definition:

Safety: “The state in which risks associated with aviation activities, related to, or in direct support of the operation of aircraft, are reduced and controlled to an acceptable level”.

Safety is therefore in connection with the prevention of accidental events due to random and unintentional factors. Although it is complementary to security processes, it represents a separate regulatory and operational approach.

Each of these two specialties enjoys its own international regulation base frame (ICAO and IATA – International Air Transport Association, the airlines association). These regulatory base frames are generally transposed in the national laws of the 193 ICAO member states.

Thus, AVSEC specialists, as well as all the managers committed to all the activities submitted to AVSEC relevant regulations, must potentially contribute to mitigating the risks of “unlawful interferences”, but also the severity of their consequences, that are often devastating.

This general objective became very complex as the nature of the unlawful interference became more and more diverse and as the modus operandi and the related technologies deployed by their perpetrators evolve and are becoming more and more sophisticated.

The AVSEC specialist purpose is therefore to advise and assist designers (engineering consultants as well as major consulting companies), airport facility operators and owners, airlines operators, suppliers of goods and services submitted to aviation security regulation delivering to airport operators and airlines, and even Civil Aviation authorities willing to improve AVSEC best practices and make them more reliable, through the development and introduction of new technologies and new organizations.

He is also committed to assisting security solutions providers who may not be familiar with the air transport environment, in understanding and addressing its commercial opportunities and regulatory constraints, so they can develop and propose relevant and adapted new solutions, technologies and services.

AVSEC is fully part of all the operations you see during your air travels, from the check-in to the collection of your baggage upon arrival and your clearance at the border control. It is also fully part of the operations you cannot see, as an airline passenger but also when you send air freight …

Looking forward to considering your specific needs so we can contribute together to the AVSEC spirit.