YSB was a beehive of activity through the month of May. The airport saw a marked increase in the number of daily flights from all airlines and a notable increase in passenger counts.

Throughout this busy period ASP also managed to increase its staffing levels with the addition of four new guard members. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Nadia Onorato and her recruitment team as well as Sarah Jessop and the HR team.

On Friday May 27, 2022, YSB opened the terminal to non-passengers and allowed family and friends into the airport for the first time in over two years. On Tuesday May 31, 2022, YSB conducted their mandated mock disaster exercise. A simulated airline crash and an active armed passenger were the focus of the exercise. ASP Security participated with a record attendance of seven guards and two supervisors.

Senior YSB staff reported that the ASP Security team carried out all emergency response procedures with a high degree of efficiency and professionalism. ASP security staff at YSB want to wish all management and staff a pleasant and safe summer season.

The snow is melting in Northern Ontario, and we are all looking forward to summer. The Sudbury airport is seeing more passengers. As well, the Porter Airlines deal with Air Transat promises better connections to points eastward and beyond for YSB passengers in 2022. It is an exciting time for the airport.

ASP Highlights at the Sudbury Airport Include:

• We played a major role in assisting the client with completing a formal RAIC Audit for Transport Canada. ASP plays an integral role administrating the YSB Pass Office.

• Five new guards have been onboarded to fill open roles left by two guards leaving ASP and one guard stepping back from full time to casual hours.

• A new testing and audit program is being implemented to keep all guards current with the clients Post Orders and Standard Operating Procedures.

• The guards requested moving to continental shifts at YSB to achieve more meaningful time off and better manage open shifts. This was implemented in late fall of 2021 and the satisfaction rate is high and has also allowed overtime rates in excess of 30% to be reduced to below 3%.

Hello ASP! I hope your Spring is coming along nicely! At YYC, the training and the passenger volume are increasing! We have some exciting opportunities in store for the family here in Calgary; the airport is looking for people to staff some new positions in both operations and across different contracts. I’m certain that in the very near future, we will have the opportunity to show our client that we can gracefully expand into wider ranging roles at the airport. To our YYC based staff, this is only going to become the reality if you continue to keep up the excellent job that you all have shown you are capable of.

Some developments here include the transition to team based KPIs. The client is interested to see the way that each team does the job—that’s right everyone—the competition is on! Each team will be analyzed for the number of alarms, the quality of the data and reports made, the volume of the work being completed, and more. This is the time to show that your team deserves the top spot, and maybe even take home some fun incentives! First and foremost, make sure that the information taken down in your activity reports is accurate and shows off our professionalism.

I’m also super excited about the move toward in person training! In the coming days we will have de-escalation training, continuing AVOP training, SOC training and more!

On that note, we have a new supervisor coming on board, Robin Yorga, who has gone through ITP, Basic, Post familiarization, SOC training, and will begin AVOP and Supervisor training before the end of March. Three cheers for making it through all that training in one go! I’m also happy to announce that our SOC Operator, Samson Beddall, has taken a position with the client as an Airport Operations Control Specialist. YYC is getting some talent and ASP wishes you all the best, Sam!

The entire team here at YYC is growing in their ability and it has been recognized throughout the wider airport. All I want to say is this: let’s keep the positive momentum going and keep on outdoing ourselves! Until next time, take care of yourselves!

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our Access Control Officer Moises Raguindin and Security Specialist Daveshwar Bharose for receiving an Eye on Safety award from the GTAA.

To support the vision of zero injures, the GTAA established the Eye on Safety Recognition Awards Program. These awards increase awareness on the importance of safety and security at Toronto Pearson and show their appreciation for airport employees who have gone above and beyond. On Feb 20, 2022, Moises and Daveshwar noticed a vehicle immersed in flames at the Terminal parking lot and immediately notified GTAA emergency services. After calling the emergency in, both made sure no one was in the vehicle and started to clear the area.

Once the area was clear, they quickly located the nearest fire extinguishers and started to extinguish the fire until GTAA emergency services arrived on the scene. Moises and Daveshwar, your work and dedication is outstanding – we really appreciate you going above and beyond!

We are well on our way through 2022 and we are beginning to see a change for the positive for business operations. Below is a focus on activity we have had in each of our operations:

Pearson Airport Security

• ASP is very excited to have been successful in retaining the security contract for GTAA for 7 years.
• GTAA has expanded the face mask enforcement project by adding 10 additional Posts.
• In January, GTAA started the temporary foreign worker vacation initiative again.
• We have been made aware that the Arrival testing program has been extended until the end of April.
• GTAA and ASP rolled out RAP+2.0, which is still at the testing stage.
• A detailed I-spring module was created for the British Airway contract.

Calgary Airport Security

• We have had a change of management at YYC, with the sudden departure of Matthew Szajkowski, we are please to announce that Kevin Hepburn will be the interim Operations Manager.
• Welcome Kevin Hepburn. Kevin has transferred from our Pearson operation with a vast experience in airport operations. Notwithstanding recently being a Duty Manager at Billy Bishop Airport and prior to that was a Safety and Security Manager at the GTAA.
• We had a very successful job-fair in Calgary and are in the process of getting new staff onboarded
  and trained.
• We have an aggressive training plan for the start of this year. This will cover training from the onboarding of new Access Control staff, all the way through Terminal Patrollers, Supervisors, SOC, and AVOP.

Sudbury Airport Security

We assisted with and completed a TC audit report for the Pass Office.

• The Pass office hours have been extended and it is now open 5 days a week.

• 5 more employees were added to the schedule.

• Thanks to the team, we have seen a great improvement on the completion of reports. There is still some improvement to be made, so keep up the good work.

• YSB has had a significant impact of Omicron – Air carriers changed and cancelled some of their flights, resulting in YSB has reduced terminal hours.

We are all looking forward to the imminent return of life back to ‘normality’. It has been a challenging 2 years and everyone – clients, valued ASP employees, and
the travelling public alike cannot wait to recommence travelling again.

I would like to start by addressing our current staffing issues at YYC. 2021 has been a challenging year, and although we have been actively recruiting since the summer, we could not have anticipated the unusually long wait times for TC clearances. We currently have over 20 individuals who have been hired but cannot train because they do not yet have clearance. This has led to many issues but because of the great teamwork we have here, everyone worked together, and we were able to get through this difficult time. TC clearances have finally started coming through and we should start to see more staff soon.

As a result, I want to thank each one of you for the hard work you’ve put in over the last 6 months. Many of you have been reassigned while on shift, assisted in covering breaks or asked to complete work you do. Many of you have also been working so much overtime that I don’t think you ever leave work. If this was any other team, I don’t think we would have been able to make it through this tough time. Secondly, I would like to discuss supervision at YYC. Our contract was recently extended and as part of that extension, a change was made in the supervisor structure.

Thank you again to everyone for working as a team and stepping up when it was needed. Your hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed.

While we previously had an ITB and DTB Supervisor, a decision was made to have one Terminal Supervisor and one Airside Supervisor. This will increase supervision on the airside and will better help structure our team. We have lost of few supervisors over the last few months and have been using backup Supervisors ever since. Part of the reason for not filling these positions sooner was because of this structural change to the team. Now that the contract has been signed, we are actively recruiting new supervisors and they will be on the floor soon.

The supervisors will go through an enhanced training program meant to better develop their interpersonal skills and ensure better communication with staff. I believe this training will make a great difference and will benefit all staff. Thank you again for all the hard work, everyone is proud of everything this team has accomplished and what we all know we will accomplish in the future.

2021 has been a very difficult year but if we made it through this there’s no reason we can’t make it through any other challenges, especially once this pandemic has ended.

Karl joined ASP after a 36-year career in Bell Canada of which 17 were spent in a managerial capacity. He initially started his security career with the Commissioners at YSB and transitioned over to ASP in 2020. Karl worked his way up from Guard to a Lead Guard, then was promoted to acting supervisor in early November. Karl was promoted to the position of Site Security Manager at Sudbury Airport effective December 1, 2021. Karl will be responsible for operations management, employee management, client, and customer relations at YSB. Karl would like to thank everyone who supported and accommodated the onboarding training for him on short notice. Please join me in congratulating Karl and wish him all the best in his new role