Willis Towers Watson launches drone disruption action plan

Willis Towers Watson (WTW), the global advisory and broking company, has launched a disruption action plan to deal with drone technology.

Titled Drone Disruption at Airports: A Risk Mitigation and Insurance Response, it outlines the threat to airports by drones which are increasingly being used with malicious intent to cause disruption.

Such incidents increased from 35 reported incidents between 2013-2015 to nearly 290 from 2016-2018 in the UK alone, said WTW.

To deal with this problem the action plan provides strategic risk mitigation strategies. In particular it highlights the need for a single internal reporting point for drone sightings, and early engagement with airline operators during initial drone sightings with emergency multi-agency drills being undertaken on a regular basis.

Karen Larbey, director of strategy and planning for the transportation industry at WTW, said: “Our airport risk community is very concerned about the growing use of drone technology to disrupt and interfere with airport safety.  As we have seen with the recent events in Gatwick and Singapore, and the subsequent rerouting of flights, drone technology is increasingly sophisticated and causes extensive disturbance. It is therefore essential that we help our clients to understand what risk mitigation strategies to put in place to help airports handle the disruption caused by drones.”