IATA urges teamwork in European action plan to reduce runway accidents

THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has linked up with 16 other aviation organisations to develop a "European Action Plan for the prevention of runway excursions" aimed at reducing runway accidents.

IATA's plan to reduce the most common air accidents will involve providing operational and system recommendations to aircraft operators, air navigation service providers, airports and regulatory authorities.

"Since 2008, IATA has made reducing runway excursions a priority," said IATA safety vice president Guenther Matschnigg.

"This Action Plan complements the Runway Excursion Risk Reduction (RERR) toolkit which was revised in 2011. Together they build a common awareness of the issue among the key players," he said.

IATA's contributions to the Action Plan include best practices and recommendations identified in the preparation of the RERR toolkit and IATA member airline expertise in preventing runway excursions gathered through their Safety Management Systems (SMS).

Although the focus of the Action Plan is Europe, IATA acknowledges that runway excursions are a global problem and that the rest of the world needs to comply with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) safety regulations.