How compliant is your airport?

How compliant is your airport?

The third edition of the ICAO Aerodromes Manual (document 9981) edited in 2020 contains in many ways important changes for airports worldwide as never before has ICAO been so specific when it comes to proving aerodrome compliance and the need to carry out regular documented audits.

ICAO inspires local authorities to undertake unannounced inspections to check whether the airport is fully compliant to ICAO and the extra local requirements.

This compliancy goes quite far, it doesn’t stop at inspecting the airport’s airside installations but also checks on what procedures have been put in place for everything from obstacle control to how the safety procedures are carried out and the training programs of all staff, what competence they have and how the training program looks like, when it was carried out, who attended etc…

It’s no longer simple for an airport to understand the latest aerodrome rules, know all maintenance requirements that need to be checked and proven but also how to check whether your airport has a compliant airside set up.

There are multiple training programs for airport staff like airside technicians, there are multiple engineering companies that can check your airside set up and see how it still complies with the latest requirements and maintenance can be done using a set up of tools and programs to be able to automate this aspect of your airside but all of these don’t add up.

This is why the key governing bodies like ICAO recommend organizing regular audits carried out by external auditors that follow guidance issued by the regulators, use a checklist established with the airport staff and the auditor and define and agree on the actions that are a result of the same audit.

Failure to prove that the airport has undertaken the necessary actions can often lead to penalties or restrictions and that is not what an airport in this day and age wants to see happening.

So make sure

1. To have a aerodrome safety oversight plan in place
2. Establish a regular audit of all facilities and staff training
3. Make the audit report (and the resulting actions) available and not only for inspection purposes but also for use towards management and all staff members
4. Regularly revisit the results of the agreed actions and create a gap analysis (current vs wanted)
5. Organize a yearly auditor review and discuss the extra needed actions

Let an audit not be a one off opportunity to make sure your airport follows the compliancy rules but use it to understand how your airport evolves and uses the actions to further improve.

Need help? Call upon OCEM Airfield’s PRIME Audit service and let our external experienced auditor help set up an audit that not only makes your airport compliant but also helps the airport take a lead in excellent airside management. Want to know more? Contact us via services@ocem.com or check out our brochure here.