5 Airport planning, design, operation and safety (cf. ICAO Annex 14 Volume I - Aerodrome Design and Operations, 5th Edition, 2009, Volume II – Heliports, 3rd Edition, 2009, Manual on Certification of Aerodromes, Doc. 9774, 1st Edition, 2001, Safety Management Manual, Doc 9859, 2nd Edition, 2009 Global Air Traffic Management Operational Concept, Doc 9854) ACI Policy and Recommended Practices Handbook | Seventh Edition | November 2009 Section 5 | Page 15.1 Certification of airports ICAO Annex 14, as from amendment 4, (applicable from November 2001) requires an international airport to be certified for safety purposes. ACI supports the general principles put forward by ICAO, although it believes that standards (basic requirements) should be distinguished from recommended practices and only standards should be part of the certification process. ACI POLICY ACI RECOMMENDED PRACTICE / COMMENT 5.1.1 The Recommended Practices (as distinct from Standards) for airport design in Annex 14 should NOT be made mandatory for certification purposes. In 2001, ICAO introduced new requirements in Annex 14 to ensure universal safety certification of airports. As of 27 November 2003, States are required to certify aerodromes used for international operations, while, for all other aerodromes open to public use, this is a recommendation (Recommended Practice 1.3.2). As of 24 November 2005, all certified aerodrome operators must implement a Safety Management System (SMS) acceptable to their State. These international requirements form the basis for national regulations and their enforcement. ACI supports ICAO’s general principles of safety regulation for airports, and welcomes ICAO’s programme of Safety Audits of States. All States should adopt Regulations for Aerodrome Certification and for Safety Management Systems, based on the ICAO model. ACI believes that ICAO needs to further develop its documents (including the Manual on Certification of Aerodromes), to take account of aerodrome operators’ comments, including the points below. 5.1.1a ICAO Recommended Practices should not be made mandatory by national regulators, when aeronautical studies show that the target level of safety can be achieved by other means (see policy 5.2 on target level of safety), 5.1.1b National regulations for the operational use of safety management systems (see section 5.24), should be based on international “best practice” and experience. 5.1.2 Safety regulations should be clear, practical, efficient and similar worldwide: safety measures related to design and operations should be implemented where they give the highest benefit, and with international consistency. Regulations should not be written in an excessively prescriptive manner, but allow aerodrome operators the flexibility to mitigate risk in different ways. 5.1.2a National safety regulatory bodies (Civil Aviation Authorities) should be clearly separated from airport management to ensure independence. 5.1.2b There should be no excessive fees or unnecessary administrative requirements for certification. 5.1.2c ACI requests safety regulators to consult aerodrome operators on all matters relating to regulatory policy. 5.1.3 Airports which have been certificated under pre-existing arrangements should not be arbitrarily refused certificates, or required to comply with new standards without due notice or a transition period, taking into account any site-specific impediments at the airport. 5.1.3a When introducing new certification requirements for airports, Civil Aviation Authorities should recognize the difference between existing and new airports and engage in dialogue with aerodrome operators. 5.1.3b ACI members are encouraged to undertake relevant research and analysis to determine those safety initiatives which should be given priority. Any such exercise of common interest should in turn be brought to the attention of ACI and other members, to improve the relevant regulations and disseminate “best practice”. Hazards may be mitigated through appropriate means of compliance, which must be agreed between the airport and its regulator. ACI Policy and Recommended Practices Handbook | Seventh Edition | November 2009 Section 5 | Page 25.2 “Target Level of Safety approach to design” To enhance airport safety while ensuring optimum use of resources, airport design regulations should be developed to meet a generally accepted Target Level of Safety (TLS), as has been done for many years in the field of aircraft certification. However, it is important to note that the airport safety TLS should focus on preventing accidents, fatalities, injuries or significant damage. ACI POLICY ACI RECOMMENDED PRACTICE / COMMENT 5.2.1 Design standards should be based on hazard analysis, taking into account the probability and severity of all foreseeable and known hazards. Present ICAO SARPs for airports are generally not designed to reflect specific risk levels. Their safety rationale is apparently not consistent across all airport facilities and systems. There are no clear links between airport design and aircraft operations in present regulations to satisfy the need for consistent and optimized safety improvement measures. Recent analysis uses criteria such as those of the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (e.g. JAR/FAR-OPS) to evaluate risk. If the focus is kept on preventing accidents, fatalities, injuries or significant damage, the basic TLS should be as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). Methods of calculating risk should be further developed, and should be referred to in regulations. This may be done by establishing criteria for carrying out aeronautical studies.(Risk = frequency x severity (Ref. ACI Airside Safety Handbook) 5.2.2 ICAO Annex 14 should reflect the TLS approach to design. 5.2.2a Safety Management Systems and “best practices” must not only be regarded as complementary to regulations, but be integrated in methods to calculate risk. 5.2.2b The TLS approach to design should be reflected in the following elements of ICAO Annex 14: the reference code, runway strips, separation criteria (RWY/TWY and TWY/TWY), RESAs and obstacle limitation surfaces. Revisions and supplements must also encompass New Large Aircraft (ICAO Aerodrome Reference Code Letter F). The Target Level of Safety (TLS) is the maximum level of risk