Runway Safety - Runway Incursion

Ensuring runway safety is crucial for aviation, as it is key to preventing accidents during takeoff and landing. One of the most persistent concerns within the runway safety domain is runway incursion, which refers to the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person is present on an active runway.

While runway incursions can arguably be considered relatively rare events, considering the number of flights operated worldwide, they are a cause of concern as they are the precursor of high-energy collisions leading to severe consequences, including serious or fatal injuries.

The incorrect presence of aircraft or ground vehicles on an active runway may result from a:

• Controller-induced situations in which no clear instructions, the use of non-standard phraseology, and the lack of monitoring aircraft movements prompt a runway incursion.
• Flight Crew-induced situations, where unfamiliarity with the aerodrome, improper aerodrome signage, ATC clearance misinterpretation, English proficiency, workload, and other factors increase the likelihood of making errors leading to an inadvertent entry onto an active runway and
• Ground vehicles driver-induced situations, such as a lack of familiarity with the airport layout or misinterpreting ATC instructions, contribute to entering the runway incorrectly.

Although air traffic controllers, pilots, and ground vehicle drivers are considered the main actors in the risk landscape, addressing runway incursions requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including aerodromes, states, and manufacturers. Without such cooperation, it becomes difficult to manage the intricate combination of factors that contribute to this issue.

In December 2023, the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions (GAPPRI) was released under the leadership of ICAO, IATA, and other international organizations. GAPPRI intends to provide guidelines to stakeholders from an organizational perspective to set the safety strategy to mitigate the risk of runway collisions by reducing exposure to runway incursion events.

GAPPRI's volume I contains 97 recommendations addressing the baseline to improve risk mitigation by strengthening safety controls of the front-line stakeholders- air operators, ANSPs, and aerodromes. Some areas of improvement across these actors are the safety management policies and procedures, including safety performance monitoring activities, Operational procedures, Communications protocols, and infrastructure.

In addition, GAPPRI introduces 30 recommendations to Manufacturers and states/regulators to consider technological developments aimed at introducing new safety controls to prevent incursions. Also, it includes some recommendations to improve regulatory oversight of runway incursion safety programs.

Call to Action - Industry

• Conduct a Gap analysis of your organization’s Runway incursion safety program to understand the organization's current position regarding GAPPRI.
• Develop and implement a plan to align your runway incursion safety program with GAPPRI recommendations based on organizational capability and risk appetite.
• Air operators are encouraged to participate in runway safety teams at strategic aerodromes based on factors such as the number of operations and incursion trends.

Call to Action – IATA

• Develop a safety risk assessment to provide general guidance in mitigating runway incursions in line with the global action plan for the prevention of runway incursions.

Useful Links

• Safety Issue Hub
• Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions (GAPPRI)