Airports Council International (ACI) awarded three Tri-State airports — Albany International, Westchester County, and Tweed New Haven airports — with the organization’s highest health recognition. Avports provides management services for these three airport’s facilities. These health accreditations underscore efforts by local governments and Avports in New York and Connecticut to keep travelers and workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tweed New Haven Airport is the first airport in Connecticut to receive the ACI accreditation. The three airports earning the ACI accreditation join New York Stewart International and Teterboro airports, two other airports where Avports provides management services, which were recognized by ACI earlier this year. Teterboro is the first general aviation airport to receive the ACI health accreditation.
“Avports congratulates Albany County Airport Authority, Westchester County, Tweed New Haven Airport Authority, and our staff on reaching the highest health and safety standards at its airports. Avports is proud of its work to develop and implement its SAFE HANDS program in partnership with State and county officials’ COVID prevention protocols in order to ensure the safest possible trips for travelers,” said Jorge Roberts, CEO of Avports.
“This year we have made maintaining a safe and clean environment for our passengers our greatest priority and we’re honored to receive national accreditation and recognition for the innovative work our team is doing each and every day here at Tweed-New Haven Airport,” said Tweed New Haven Airport Executive Director Sean Scanlon.
"These awards represent the industry standards for outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation and validates the Airport's preparedness for biorisk situations such as the COVID-19 virus," said Philip Calderone, CEO of the Albany County Airport Authority. "The accreditation confirms the Airport's performance-based program for cleaning, disinfecting and infection prevention, and further verifies the Albany International Airport's dedication to maintaining and carrying out the procedures on a daily basis."
“There is still a long road ahead before we have a widely distributed vaccine and go back to business as usual. Until that day comes, we need to make sure our key infrastructure and transportation hubs are as safe as possible to stop the spread of the virus. This is especially true as many countries restrict travel from the United Kingdom, which is dealing with a potentially more contagious mutation of COVID-19,” said Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy. “These two accreditations, along with the new rapid testing program and various social distancing guidelines, show that the Albany International Airport and Albany County are taking the health and wellbeing of travelers seriously.”
The ACI Airport Health Accreditation demonstrates to passengers, staff, regulators, and governments that airport facilities are prioritizing health and safety in a measurable, established manner. It also allows airports to validate their own sanitation protocols throughout their facilities while reassuring the traveling public using the airport that the facilities meet professional measures for safety and hygiene.
In addition to Avports’ SAFE HANDS program and other strict health and safety protocols, Albany International Airport also recently announced the country’s first self-administered, saliva COVID tests at a commercial airport, provided by SUNY Upstate Medical University and Quadrant Biosciences. Airport employees were the first to use the self-administered test.
Albany International Airport is the first airport in New York and second in the US to receive both the ACI and GBAC STAR Accreditations. The Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) also awarded Albany International Airport its STAR Facility Accreditation — the only industrial outbreak prevention, response, and recovery accreditation.
All Avports-operated airports have implemented the SAFE HANDS program to address COVID-19. Examples of the safety measures include:
- Separation barriers at customer facing desks and counters
- Touchless hand sanitizing stations
- Physical distancing signage
- Self-disinfecting materials at frequently touched surfaces
- UVC disinfection technologies
- Touchless restroom and parking technology
- Electrostatic spray disinfection for terminal
- PPE vending machines.
