A MAJOR training exercise to test the airport’s emergency response to an aircraft incident is taking place at London Stansted on Tuesday (Oct 4) evening.

The training drill involves numerous airport organisations and employees, plus fire crews, police and ambulance service personnel from across the East of England, the British Red Cross and local authorities.

During the exercise, the airport is advising residents and passengers not to be alarmed by lots of blue lights because several emergency vehicles will be in the area.

Adrian Battaini, Business Continuity & Risk Manager at London Stansted, said:

“The Civil Aviation Authority requires us to conduct an emergency exercise every four years to test our response to an aircraft incident.

“It gives us an excellent opportunity to continue our work with the emergency services, airport and airline companies and local authorities to see how we collectively respond to a rare but challenging incident.

“The exercise presents a scenario you hope you’ll never actually experience in reality, but we’re confident we have the plans and procedures in place to handle any emergency situation.

“I just want to reassure local residents and airport users that they shouldn’t be concerned if they see a lot of emergency vehicles and blue lights on Tuesday evening.”

The exercise will begin at 7.30pm in an area away from the main passenger terminal, so flight operations will not be affected.