As a public transport pilot, you will probably know the following situation. You arrive at the aircraft for the start of your duty; you look around your plane, GPU and airco connected, fuel truck and catering around the plane; and suddenly you see a white van with masked windows. You recognise the federal police with a deportee. At that moment, we all react in different ways but for sure we all know our departure could be difficult, for proof there is an additional stair at the rear door of the plane.

At this point, you might think this is a decision of justice, some might think that we can not accommodate all the misery of the world, some of us might remember that Semira Adamu died in a commercial aircraft in 1998. News, politics, personal opinion certainly affect our view on the wide subject of migration.

As we are close to STD, this creates additional stress.

That is why BeCA strongly believes that the commander of such flights must be informed as soon as possible, so that they can come earlier to the aircraft in order to discuss with the police officer and with the rest of the crew, maybe assist for the pre-boarding. They will then be able to act professionally without being influenced by personal or external pressures, not judging the deportation, but executing a difficult mission in front of the public and our other passengers. In good coordination with the crew and the police they will be able to take adequate decisions, maybe to stop the mission and to disembark the deportee and its escort. This might be necessary to maintain the good order on board and for safety reasons only, in accordance with the Tokyo convention.

Through 3 commissions, for more than 2 decades, BeCA has been in contact with all the actors of this difficult matter: different ministries, federal police and inspection, commission for refugees and stateless persons, fedasil and some NGOs.

Recently, IFALPA published a position paper on Passenger flights carrying deportees, which is totally in line with the position taken by BeCA during all these years. We would like to share it with you while waiting for the final report of the last commission “Bossuyt”, which is planned to come out soon.