Story ID: 339
MedAire Releases Updated Travel Risk Map
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: The aviation medical support company provides guidance to help international operators understand risk at their various destinations.
Word Count: 353
Aviation industry medical support provider MedAire (Booth S125) has released the latest edition of its travel medical and security risk map. Produced annually by parent company International SOS and Control Risks, the map provides a comprehensive overview of health, crime, and geopolitical risks by destination and helps organizations and flight departments reduce their potential to encounter dangerous situations.

“The Travel Risk Map captures risk from a global perspective, allowing businesses, managers, and the individual traveler to visualize trouble spots associated with upcoming travel destinations,” said John Cauthen, MedAire and Control Risks’ director of security, adding that in an increasingly volatile but interconnected world, aviation operators need to ensure they have access to the most pertinent security information and services for their operators. “Referencing the Travel Risk Map is the first step, beginning at the macro level, to proactively build proper situational awareness.”

MedAire and International SOS had published a Health Risk Map since 2010. It was renamed the Travel Risk Map in 2016 to account for the newly added travel security ratings, aimed at helping flight departments better understand the risks in the markets where they operate and travel.

The two companies also recently released a joint paper on best practices to better help aviation operators prepare for and mitigate risk. The paper—A Holistic Approach: Insight, Preparedness, and Assistance—supports calls from industry associations such as the International Air Transport Association and the International Civil Aviation Organization for stronger partnerships between industry stakeholders to develop measures to counter threats to aviation.

The paper describes insight as the process a company undergoes to fully understand its operations and business needs in a volatile, complex, and/or uncertain environment; preparedness is the application of appropriate mitigation effects to ensure vulnerabilities are minimized or, in the best case, eliminated. Assistance is centered on supporting their people during security breaches or incidents.

“Real-world issues need real-world support,” said Cauthen. “Flight departments must have processes in place, as part of their aviation security programs, to mitigate and respond to risks affecting their people and operations.”
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