KaiserAir Institutes SecurityProcedures for Business Jets

OAKLAND, Calif. — KaiserAir, Inc., the largest company managing and chartering business jets in the San Francisco Bay Area, has instituted new security procedures for all its flights and for the executive terminal it operates at Oakland International’s North Airport — procedures it hopes can serve as a model for new federal regulations.

Although the federal government has yet to mandate new procedures for business jets and smaller aircraft, KaiserAir began developing new security procedures last fall as a response to concerns about safety after Sept. 11.

"We felt it was important to take additional measures to reassure our clients and the public," said Sandy Waters, vice president of KaiserAir, whose clients have included prominent San Francisco Bay Area companies and high-profile passengers such as former U.S. presidents and British prime ministers.

At KaiserAir, employees with jobs that directly affect the safety and security of passengers, flight crews and aircraft are subject to scrupulous checks. A pre-hire fingerprint check and thorough background investigation are conducted. During employment, flight crews and maintenance and line service technicians are tested at random for drug and alcohol use. In more than 55 years of aviation management and service, KaiserAir has never had an accident.

Before each flight operated by KaiserAir, each passenger and his baggage is identified and verified. Boarding is done at a private terminal building, located on 16 acres of ramp at Oakland’s North Airport. The area is secured by 12-foot fencing and security guards at private gates.

KaiserAir now requires all flight crew members and passengers to check in at the customer service counter upon arrival at the executive terminal, and a staff member escorts them to and from their aircraft. In addition, flight crewmembers must identify all of their passengers and verify the owner of each piece of baggage before the airplane is loaded.

"At the same time," Waters said, "KaiserAir is joining other members of the National Air Transportation Association to urge the Transportation Security Administration to avoid requiring that smaller planes meet the same security regulations as scheduled airlines.

"The TSA has proposed requiring passengers on every aircraft, even small airplanes used by flying clubs, to go through metal detectors and to have all baggage checked," Waters said.

"There are only 492 airports in the United States today that even have the appropriate equipment. More than 5,000 smaller airports, where there is no scheduled service, lack the necessary equipment and installing it would be so costly that most of them would have to close," he added.

"We certainly support the requirements for background checks and fingerprinting of flight crews, and for security screening of passengers and baggage on charters of aircraft weighing more than 95,000 pounds — about the size of 60-passenger regional jets. But there has never been a successful hijacking of a charter or air taxi in history, and there is no reason to impose the same requirements on smaller aircraft."

A detailed list of KaiserAir's security procedures is at www.kaiserair.com/security.html.

KaiserAir, Inc. dates back to 1946 when it began as the flight department for the Kaiser companies founded by the late industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Today it is a full-service aircraft management company and fixed-base operator, specializing in the operation and maintenance of Gulfstream, Hawker, Cessna and other business jet aircraft. Thirty-three of Fortune Magazine's Top 50 corporations make KaiserAir's Executive Terminal their home when they conduct business in the San Francisco area.

Additional information is available on the Internet at www.kaiserair.com, or by telephoning 510-569-9622.

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