A group of eight airport staff from Kosovo have completed two weeks of training at Inverness Airport as part of an international aerodrome operations programme.

HIAL delivered the two-week training programme to the operational staff from Pristina Airport on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority International.

Pristina Airport is preparing for handover from NATO control to the civilian authorities later this year.

Members if the Kosovan group had already carried out training in England and completed their time in the UK at Inverness Airport, gaining an insight into all aspects of airport operations north of the border.

The two-week training programme, which was devised by HIAL’s operations department, included classroom-based theory and practical aspects of airport operations.

Topics covered during the course included fire fighting, security, health and safety, wildlife management, aircraft refuelling, statutory regulations, emergency planning, navigational aids and inspection regimes.

HIAL hopes to deliver more courses of this type to international delegates in the future as it already has an extensive in-house training programme for its own staff.

Paul Clarkson, HIAL’s general manager operations said: “We are recognised as a centre of excellence for airport operations and were delighted to share our knowledge and experience with the staff from Pristina Airport. As a company we are committed to maintaining the highest operational standards and to be an innovating member of the airport industry.

“With the expansion of the European Union we believe there will be further opportunities to offer training to European delegates and assisting CAA International with this programme was a useful exercise from our perspective.”

Andy Rackham, HIAL’s operations manager, oversaw the training programme. He said: “This course allowed us to share best practice with the members of staff from Pristina Airport and also gave us an insight into their operations and how they meet the considerable regulatory requirements governing airports.

“Airports are strictly regulated and complex to run and this was reflected in the wide ranging mix of theory and practice that is included in the training course.

“We already have an extensive suite of in-house training for our own staff and it is a logical progression to extend this to external delegates. We hope that this will be a growth area for our business,” said Mr Rackham.

The training programme at Inverness Airport finished on Friday 5 March.

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