ABSTRACT
The aim of the paper is to summarize the experience gained from the safety management system (SMS) of Prague Airport in the period most affected by the pandemic. The safety management system has been operational at the airport for 14 years and the last 2 have been different than the years before. The local safety processes have changed to be able to react to the new challenges, especially in the field of the human factors. Also, the safety performance of the airport has changed, as described later. The paper transforms the experience gained in this extraordinary period into a set of conclusions, recommendations, and proposed ways how to study the topic further- The results can be used by the safety managers of other airports and other aviation companies in initiatives to improve the functioning of the safety management systems in the near future, and not in the pandemic times only. No doubt the covid was the topic of the years 2020 and 2021, but aviation must think generally and get prepared for other potential disruptions than just the pandemics, say lack of energy, adverse weather like the one that tormented Istanbul Grand Airport at the beginning of 2022, geo-political crises like the one we face now, or a shortage of staff. The last mentioned is overt, as thousands of experienced employees have left airports in last two years. It is not easy to recruit them back or attract the new ones. The paper therefore touches not just the safety, but also resilience and business continuity topics. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.