IATA, CANSO and ACI strengthen runway safety
IATA, CANSO and Airports Council International launched a joint runway safety initiative on 28 July 2026. The programme will focus on incident reporting, local runway safety teams and sharing operational practices across airports and aviation organisations.
Three areas of joint action
The organisations want to improve the collection of data on incidents, near misses, precursor events and frontline observations. Reports may come from pilots, air traffic controllers, airport employees and other staff directly involved in operations.
The second area concerns Local Runway Safety Teams. These groups bring together airlines, airport operators, air navigation service providers and other operational partners. They assess risks at individual airports and agree coordinated measures.
The third area is the exchange of operational experience and implementation results. Practices tested in one operating environment may then be adopted by other airports and organisations facing similar conditions.
Runway risks require coordinated decisions
A runway incursion is the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on a runway or within its protected area. CANSO said these events appear in IATA’s annual safety reports and that several recent incidents resulted in fatalities.
Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice-president for operations, safety and security, said earlier risk detection depends on combining information from airlines, airports and air navigation service providers. Andrea Sack, CANSO’s senior vice-president for global operations, pointed to the role of clear communication and coordinated decision-making at airports.
Tools include risk assessments and checklists
The initiative will use ACI’s Runway Safety Team Implementation Package, developed under the APEX in Safety programme. The partners will also use the joint ACI-CANSO runway safety checklist and IATA’s Runway Incursion Risk Assessment tool.
The programme also includes the GAPPRI gap-analysis tool for airlines. Risk controls used by carriers will be assessed through the IATA Operational Safety Audit programme.
Local findings will support operating procedures
For airlines, airports and air navigation service providers, the initiative puts greater emphasis on joint incident analysis. Local Runway Safety Teams will be the main forum for agreeing measures related to runway operations.
The programme builds on the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions, prepared by ICAO, Eurocontrol and the Flight Safety Foundation. It also reflects ICAO’s Global Runway Safety Action Plan.
