حفظ هزینه پایین امنیت محموله: یک رویکرد مبتنی بر ریسک برای امنیت محموله هوایی فرودگاه در فرودگاه های کوچک  و متوسط   Keeping cargo security costs down: A risk-based approach to air cargo airport security in small and medium    airports

1. Introduction According to EUROCONTROL,1 there are little more than 2000 airports in Europe that handle IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flights, with only 500 having more than 1000 IFR departures per year (Wegner and Marsh, 2007), and from which only about 300 board more than 15 000 passengers per year (European Commission, 2015). In 2013,a total of 14,4million tonnes of air freight were transported through EU airports, (European Commission, 2015). If we consider the Top 25 airports that handle the largest freight traffic amount per se, together they sum up to almost 12.8 million tonnes of air freight handled in 2013 and even the Top 5 sum almost 7 million tonnes. This means that only 1.6 million tonnes are handled by the remaining airports, but we should bear in mind that not all smaller airports handle freight. In the absence of a classifi- cation of airports by size regarding the amount of cargo loaded, and since we do not solely consider cargo specialized airports, we use the definition of small and medium airports by number of departures per year, being small and medium airports those with a maximum of 3.000 and 6.000 departures respectively. Regional airports are vital for economic growth of Europe’s regional communities. The worldwide connection and speed of air travel gives remote regions more accessibility than other means of transport being an enabler for social development and economic growth. In Norway, for example, a study concluded that residents in remote regions have a higher frequency of travel by air on domestic services than the national average (Halpern and Bråthen, 2011). In the same study, the main reasons for travel for residents in those remote regions was work, followed by visiting family and friends. But the global financial crisis created a great impact on these airports, and their recovery has not been as quick as the rest of the industry. Nevertheless, in 2014 regional airports recovered as much as in the earlier years (Sadler, 2015). Due to its high price, air freight (which include the transportation by air of cargo and mail) is competitive mainly for long distances and relatively light, high-value or perishable goods, and time-sensitive cargo. As an example, for typical air freight consignments, the high-value machine parts and manufacturing equipment, electronic components for manufactured goods, consumer electronics, jewellery, and perishable items as flowers, fruits, and even fresh fish. Hence, it plays a relevant role in moving certain types of goods across the globe, consequently some sectors could be seriously affected by eventual disruptions (e.g. remote regions) (Williams and Bråthen, 2010).