Airport-to-Airport Mutual Aid Programs (2012)

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62 Deciding whether to participate in airport-to-airport mutual aid depends on an individual airport. No other airport or outside authority can determine what solution fits a particular airport better than that airport and its leaders. This Guidebook has attempted to describe the nature and functions of the full range of existing and potential airport-to-airport mutual aid programs in order to provide airports with a tool that can be used to help them decide whether to participate in mutual aid and, if so, how to participate. The choices that an airport faces regarding participation in airport-to-airport mutual aid include the following: • Not to be active in airport-to-airport mutual aid and attempt to be fully self-sufficient. • Not be active in an airport-to-airport mutual aid program but request aid from one of the existing programs (see Table 2 in Chapter 2) if a need for aid arises. • Join an existing mutual aid program that fits the airport’s needs. Table 2 may be useful in identifying which type of mutual aid program an airport may join. • Initiate the formation of a new mutual aid program to fit the airport’s needs and those of a group of airports with similar needs. Table 3 in Chapter 4 may be useful in identifying which type of mutual aid program to form: – One-to-one mutual aid agreement, – Small region mutual aid program, – Specialized mutual aid program, – Regional mutual aid program in region without a mutual aid program, – Mutual aid program for response phase (e.g., CARST), or – Other mutual aid program grounded in disaster emergency management at airports. Airport-to-airport mutual aid programs have proven their worth and have the potential for greater services to airports suffering disasters. They are cost-effective and have led to improvements in emergency management, COOP, and COB at airports. C h a p t e r 1 0 Choices for Airports Regarding Mutual Aid