11 February 2015 – Only 27% of European citizens identify 112 as the number to call in an emergency anywhere in the EU, and 70% did not come across any information about the European emergency number 112 in their country. With the increasing number of Europeans travelling throughout the EU, awareness of the common European emergency number is now more needed than ever.

European Parliament Vice-President, Mrs. Adina-Ioana Valean, in cooperation with the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) launched a campaign that aims at raising awareness of 112 among travellers all around Europe. In order to do that, airports and airlines were invited to display promotional material, such as posters and banners, in key areas, including departure gates, information desks and exits for airports, and in-flight magazines, websites and brochures for airlines. Airlines were also invited to make an announcement when landing informing passengers about 112.

As Mrs. Valean notes, “The 112 number allows saving more lives, this is why it must become a European brand! When it comes to safety, I want to be pragmatic and make things move "on the ground". We pro-actively initiated this campaign with airports and airlines because they offer wide visibility for people travelling in Europe. I am very happy that our campaign benefits from large support, but this is not enough and more should be done every day. As a citizen, and the Vice-President of the European Parliament, I urge everyone to join this cause and take their share in raising awareness."


EENA’s Executive Director, Gary Machado, says that the levels of 112 awareness are largely unsatisfactory around Europe. “We believe that access to potentially life-saving information is a right of European citizens. We would like to thank all participating organisations and to invite all European airports and airlines to join this campaign.”

Organisations immediately embraced the cause and expressed their commitment to contribute and use their vital role for the advancement of citizens’ safety. Already 13 European airports, 7 European airlines, as well as the Airports Council International Europe (ACI-Europe) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA) have joined the initiative or are looking into ways they can support it.

Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE commented “For Europe’s airports, travellers’ safety is a natural priority. We applaud Mrs. Valean and EENA’s work in promoting a more aligned approach to emergencies and ACI EUROPE is happy to support this action.”

“We are certain that our joint efforts will result to better informed travellers around Europe, which is of great value”notes Athar Husain Khan, CEO of AEA. We all should play a part in this initiative and AEA is honoured to be able to help raise awareness of such an important issue.”

For more information or for joining this campaign, please contact Petros Kremonas at [email protected] or at +32 (0)2 534 97 89.

Airlines (alphabetical order):

  • AirFrance – Visit the website HERE
  • Brussels Airlines – Visit the website HERE
  • Bulgaria Air – Visit the website HERE
  • Flybe – Visit the website HERE
  • Iberia Airlines – Visit the website HERE
  • Lufthansa – Visit the website HERE
  • TAP Airlines – Visit the website HERE

+ Association of European Airlines (AEA) – Visit the website HERE

Airports (country-based alphabetical order):

  • Karlovy Vary Airport (Czech Republic) – Visit the website HERE
  • Praha Vaclav Havel Airport (Czech Republic) – Visit the website HERE
  • Tallinn Lennart Meri Airport (Estonia) – Visit the website HERE
  • Hamburg Airport (Germany) – Visit the website HERE
  • Stuttgart Airport (Germany) – Visit the website HERE
  • Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport (Greece) – Visit the website HERE
  • Heraklion N. Kazantzakis Airport (Greece) – Visit the website HERE
  • Riga Skulte Airport (Latvia) – Visit the website HERE
  • Krakow-Balice John Paul II Airport (Poland) – Visit the website HERE
  • Bacau George Enescu Airport (Romania) – Visit the website HERE
  • Cluj Avram Iancu Airport (Romania) – Visit the website HERE
  • Stockholm-Skavsta Airport (Sweden) – Visit the website HERE
  • Gatwick Airport (United Kingdom) – Visit the website HERE

+ Airports Council International Europe (ACI-Europe) – Visit the website HERE


 

European 112 Day: Since 2009, 11 February is established as the European 112 Day, a day dedicated to raising the profile of 112, spreading the message and raising awareness, with activities being organised every year at the local, regional, national and European level.

For promotional material of 112, you may visit:

  • The website of the European Commission, HERE;
  • The website of EENA, HERE.

For actions around Europe on European 112 Day 2015, please click HERE.