Integrating Crisis Management and Business Continuity at Airports: A Practical Guide (2024)
Chapter: Glossary of Terms and Definitions
Visit
NAP.edu/10766
to get more information about this book, to buy it in print, or to
download it as a free PDF.
Previous Chapter:
7 The Way Forward
Next Chapter: Bibliography
Suggested Citation:
"Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Integrating Crisis Management and Business Continuity at Airports: A Practical Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/27915.
Glossary of Terms and Definitions
| Activation | Once a COOP plan has been implemented, whether in whole or in part, it is considered activated. The activation cycle can be defined under four phases: Phase I—Readiness and Preparedness, during which the airport prepares its capabilities for a response; Phase II—Activation, during which plans, procedures, and schedules to mobilize crisis management and/or continuity-related activities, personnel, records, and equipment are activated; Phase III—Continuity Operations, which constitutes full execution of essential operations at alternate operating facilities; and Phase IV—Reconstitution, when alternate continuity facility operations are terminated and normal operations resume. |
| Airline | An air transportation system, including its equipment, routes, operating personnel, and management. |
| Airport Emergency Plan | The Airport Emergency Plan sets the procedures for coordinating the response of different airport agencies (or services) and those agencies in the surrounding community that could be of assistance in responding to the emergency. The objective of the Plan is to minimize the effects of an emergency, particularly in respect to saving lives. |
| Airport Stakeholder | Any business/service provider (internal/external) with an interest in the effectiveness of the airport operation that will be affected or impacted by a continuity event. Key stakeholders include, but are not limited to, the airport operator, airlines, ground handlers, air traffic control, concessions, government agencies, cargo operators, and other service providers. |
| Alternate Continuity Facilities | Locations, other than the primary facility, used to carry out essential functions, particularly in a continuity event. “Alternate continuity facilities” refers to not only other locations, but also nontraditional options such as working at home (teleworking), telecommuting, and mobile-office concepts. |
| Business Continuity Planning | The process of creating a plan for conducting essential operational and business functions at an organization during a disruption and recovering those functions when the disruptive incident is over. |
| Business Impact Analysis (BIA) | The process of determining the criticality of essential functions, the tolerance for functional downtime (recovery time objectives), and the business activities and associated resource requirements to ensure operational resilience and COOP during and after a business disruption. |
Suggested Citation:
"Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Integrating Crisis Management and Business Continuity at Airports: A Practical Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/27915.
| Emergency | Any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the airport, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions. |
| Communications | Voice, video, and data capabilities that enable the leadership and staff to conduct the mission-essential functions of the organization. Robust communications help ensure the leadership receives coordinated, integrated policy and operational advice and recommendations and enables governments and the private sector to communicate internally and with other entities (including with other federal agencies; state, local, territorial, and tribal governments; and the private sector) as necessary to perform their mission-essential functions. |
| Continuity | An uninterrupted ability to provide services and support, while maintaining organizational viability, before, during, and after an event. |
| Continuity of Operations (COOP) | An effort by the airport operator to ensure they can continue to perform their mission-essential functions and primary essential functions during a range of emergencies, including localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological or terrorism emergencies. |
| Continuity Personnel | Those personnel, both senior and core, who provide the leadership advice, recommendations, and functional support necessary to continue essential operations. |
| Continuity Program Management Cycle | An ongoing, cyclical model of planning, training, evaluating, and implementing corrective actions for continuity capabilities (i.e., plan, do, check, act). |
| Crisis Management | Methods used to respond to both the reality and perception of a crisis—that is, establishing metrics to define which scenarios constitute a crisis, the triggers for the necessary response mechanisms, and the communications that occur within the response phase of emergency management scenarios and persist afterward. |
| Critical Facilities | Those buildings and facilities that are essential for the delivery of vital services or protection of an airport community. |
| Delegations of Authority | Identification, by position, of the authorities for making policy determinations and decisions at the airport executive (or airport governing authority), department, and field levels. Generally, predetermined delegations of authority will take effect when normal channels of direction have been disrupted and will lapse when these channels have been reestablished. |
| Devolution | The capability to transfer statutory authority and responsibility for essential functions from an airport operator’s primary operating staff and facilities to other airport employees and facilities, and to sustain that operational capability for an extended period. |
| Disaster | Used to characterize a devastating event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe, that exceeds the airport’s reasonable ability to respond. For example, a hurricane or pandemic would be considered disasters. |
| Diverted Flight | A flight operated from the scheduled origin point to a point other than the scheduled destination in the carrier’s published schedule. For example, a carrier has a published schedule for a flight from A to B to C. |
Suggested Citation:
"Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Integrating Crisis Management and Business Continuity at Airports: A Practical Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/27915.
| If the carrier were to fly an A to C operation, the A to B segment is a diverted flight, and the B to C segment is a canceled flight. (U.S. DOT definition). | |
| Emergency Management | The process of preventing, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from all types of hazards and incidents that can threaten life and property. |
| Emergency Operations Center | A central command and control facility that is responsible for carrying out emergency management functions in an emergency. |
| Emergency Response Providers | Any agency providing emergency assistance response and resources such as airport police, local police, fire departments, and paramedics. |
| Enterprise Risk Management | A risk-based approach to managing an enterprise with methods and processes used as a framework to proactively manage risks (e.g., assessing risk and impact, determining response, and monitoring progress) and address strategic opportunities. |
| Essential Functions | The critical activities performed by organizations, especially after a disruption of normal activities. |
| Facilities | Locations where an organization’s leadership and staff operate. Leadership and staff may be co-located in one facility or dispersed across many locations and connected by communications systems. Facilities must be able to provide staff with survivable protection and must enable continued and endurable operations. |
| Gap Analysis | An assessment of the difference between the resources required by mission-essential functions during recovery and the actual capability of the organization to support those requirements. |
| Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) | A capabilities-based and performance-based program that furnishes standardized policies, doctrines, and terminologies for the design, development, performance, and evaluation of homeland security exercises. The National Exercise Program (NEP) uses the HSEEP as a common methodology for exercises. The HSEEP also provides tools and resources to facilitate the management of self-sustaining homeland security exercise programs. |
| Human Capital | Emergency employees and other special categories of employees who are activated by an agency to perform assigned response duties during a continuity event. |
| Incident Command System (ICS) | ICS is a standardized hierarchical structure that allows for a cooperative response by multiple agencies, both within and outside of government, to organize and coordinate response activities without compromising the decision-making authority of local command and provides guidance about the flow of information, resources, and decisions during incident response. |
| Irregular Operations (IROPS) | Exceptional events that require actions and/or capabilities beyond those considered usual by aviation service providers. Generally, an impact of these events is passenger delays, often in unexpected locations for an undetermined amount of time. IROPS examples include extreme weather events (such as snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes), geological events (such as earthquakes, volcanoes), and other events (such as power outages or a security breach). |
Suggested Citation:
"Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Integrating Crisis Management and Business Continuity at Airports: A Practical Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/27915.
| Large-Hub Airport | Per the U.S. Department of Transportation, an airport that accounts for at least 1 percent of the total commercial enplanements in the United States. |
| Medium-Hub Airport | Per the U.S. Department of Transportation, an airport accounting for at least 0.25 percent to 1 percent of the total enplanements in the United States. |
| Non-Hub Airport | Per the U.S. Department of Transportation, an airport that receives less than 0.05 percent but more than 10,000 of the annual U.S. commercial enplanements. |
| Normal Operations | Broad functions undertaken by an organization when it is assigned responsibility for a given functional area; these functions include day-to-day tasks, planning, and execution of tasks. |
| Operational Resilience | The general capacity and capability for sustaining an organization’s business and operations despite the risks, emergency incidents, crises, and disruptions. |
| Reconstitution | The process by which surviving and/or replacement airport operator personnel resume normal agency operations from the original or replacement primary operating facility. |
| Recovery | The implementation of prioritized actions required to return an organization’s processes and support functions to operational stability following an interruption or disaster. |
| Risk Assessment | A process for determining relative risk to an organization from a group of hazards, common exposures, or threat and ranking them in some combination of probability, level of impact, acceleration, and duration. |
| Scenario Planning | The process of identifying the range of specific threats the airport faces based on its mission, ownership, geographic location, operating environment, and many other factors that define its risk profile and the likely types of disruptive incidents it could face. |
| Service Providers | All entities at an airport that provide services for customers and passengers, including but not limited to airports, airlines, concessionaires, ground transportation agencies, government agencies, overnight accommodations (e.g., hotels, Red Cross), emergency response (e.g., police, fire, EMT), military (if joint-use facility), and diversion airports. |
| Small-Hub Airport | Per the U.S. Department of Transportation, an airport that receives 0.05 to 0.25 percent of the annual U.S. commercial enplanements. |
| Succession Planning | A formally documented plan that specifically names one or more persons who will assume the job, position, or responsibilities of an incumbent who is no longer in the position. |
| Testing, Training, and Exercise (TT&E) | Measures to ensure that an agency’s continuity plan can support the continued execution of the agency’s essential functions during a continuity event. |
| Vital Records Management | Electronic and hard-copy documents, references, and records needed to support essential functions during a continuity situation. The two basic categories of vital records are (1) emergency operating records and (2) legal and financial records. |
Suggested Citation:
"Glossary of Terms and Definitions." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Integrating Crisis Management and Business Continuity at Airports: A Practical Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/27915.
| Vulnerability Analysis | A process that defines, identifies, and classifies the susceptibility of a facility, computer, network, or communications infrastructure to damage or destruction. In addition, a vulnerability analysis can forecast the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures and evaluate their actual effectiveness after they are implemented. |
Subscribe to Emails from the National Academies
Stay up to date on activities, publications, and events by subscribing to email updates.