Basel Airport had to be evacuated four times within just a few days due to bomb threats. This always meant that flight operations had to be interrupted for several hours.

All people had to leave the terminal and wait outside for the all-clear. Unfortunately, such bomb threats, which almost always turn out to be false alarms and therefore harmless, do occur, but Basel has set a sad but also quite embarrassing record, at least in the recent past.

The principle of “safety first” applies in aviation, but with such frequent threats that always turn out to be harmless because the executive branch finds absolutely nothing dangerous, there is a completely different risk. At some point, passengers, but also employees and officials no longer take any threats seriously. Yes, everyone out again, we already know the “exercise” from the three previous “actions” this week. Why go out into the cold?

The question, which is entirely justified: How can it be that the airport and the French authorities (Euro-Airport is located on French territory) allow themselves to be paraded in such a way by obvious pranksters? The security situation is currently tense due to the wars in Israel and Ukraine, but in France, of all places, the approach is different in other regions. Flight operations will not stop immediately everywhere. At other French airports, the situation is first assessed undercover in civilian clothes and evacuated only if it is necessary or is absolutely unclear.

The police decide and not the airport operator

In Basel, on the other hand, every email, anonymous call or social media posting seems to result in harsh evacuation measures. The airport operator cannot be blamed here, because in such cases it has to implement the orders of the prefecture and the police. In the event of a threat, the executive has the say and makes the preliminary decisions.

There is at least the not unlikely possibility that unknown people are having fun at Basel Airport. Do they want to test how often they have to call until the authorities get fed up and stop evacuating immediately? But that is exactly a security risk.

The more routine occurs and the more attention becomes “worn out”, the easier it is for criminals who actually want to carry out an attack. Beforehand you have the opportunity to observe how an evacuation works and thus the opportunity to get to know critical points. In addition, there is the following circumstance: In the past, terrorists only very rarely announced their actions in advance in the form of threats. These usually struck straight away, with all the consequences in the form of deaths and injuries. But one fact is that meticulous scouting was carried out in advance.

Climate adhesives have inadvertently exposed safety problems

The climate stickers have repeatedly shown that security at some airports is not optimal. A standard bolt cutter and a few wires were enough to get to the apron. By the time security or police intervened, there was enough time to get stuck, damage aircraft and/or throw paint on them or do other mischief.

The fact that it is so easy to get into the secure area at many airports in DA-CH is a security risk. Although climate adhesives only cause property damage at most, they have fortunately not yet posed a threat comparable to a terrorist attack.

However, the high media presence also means that the security gaps have become generally known. Terrorists also find out about this and that is a dangerous risk. If you constantly annoy authorities, employees and officials with bomb threats that turn out to be fake, at some point you won't take everything so seriously anymore. This is normal human behavior, because routine also leads to mistakes. The combination of all factors poses a significant risk to flight safety.

In many countries, but not in the EU, it is common practice for everyone entering an airport terminal to first pass a security check. This is not quite as thorough as the real Siko before entering the security area, but dangerous and forbidden objects should not even enter the airport. If threats and evacuations continue like this in Basel, one should seriously consider whether such preliminary checks are a sensible approach.

At the same time, the guarding of the fences and thus the protection of the airport areas should be massively increased. The climate adhesives in Germany, for example, have shown that there is an acute need to catch up. This should be improved as soon as possible before it is too late.