Airport Ground Handling Services underScrutiny in Safety Investigation

The Safety In­ves­ti­ga­tion Au­thor­ity, Fin­land (SIAF) has ini­ti­ated an in­ves­ti­ga­tion into a se­ri­ous in­ci­dent that oc­curred at Helsinki-Van­taa air­port on Au­gust 28, 2025. The left wing of an air­plane op­er­ated by Juneyao Air­lines im­pacted parked mo­bile board­ing stairs dur­ing taxi­ing-in.

“There has been discussion in media whether or not this occurrence has common denominators with an accident at the same airport a fortnight ago. If this would be the case, we could have combined two investigations into a single theme investigation – which we elected not to do. The probe into the August 28 accident will mainly look at the arrangements and procedures of ground handling services,” states investigator-in-charge Janne Kotiranta.

“The investigation will examine, among other areas of interest, parking locations of vehicles and carts, and the ways they are operated near airplanes. We will also look at the planning and use of various airport zones,” Kotiranta adds.

“And, of course, nearly all of our investigations probe the role of human factors – a human being, in plain language – that contribute, at least to some extent, to events leading to an incident or an accident,” Kotiranta elaborates.

“It is tempting to link this occurrence with an accident that happened at the airport in November 2024 and caused fatal injuries to a ground handling agent. It may seem that the SIAF sometimes becomes fixated with minor “blunders” and leaves some serious occurrences uninvestigated. When we discuss the initiation of a safety investigation, we must also take obliging international regulatory framework into consideration, but the final decision will always be made by the SIAF. In the last two initiated investigations, the occurrence aircraft were definitely conducting a flight; in other words, passengers and crew were on board. However, there are of course other criteria that lead to an investigation decision”, Kotiranta explains.

The SIAF has started interviews and gathering of evidence. According to international regulations, the state of registry of an aircraft has an opportunity to appoint an accredited representative to an investigation, and this has been done by the aviation accident investigation authority of the People’s Republic of China. The United States has also appointed an accredited representative.

The purpose of a safety investigation is to promote general safety and prevent accidents and incidents. A safety investigation is not conducted in order to allocate legal liability.

The duration of a safety investigation is approximately 9 to 12 months.