FAA completes rule to increase safety at airports

The FAA has completed a new rule that will help airports detect and mitigate safety problems before they result in incidents or accidents.

The rule will require certain airports to develop and implement a safety management systems (SMS).

The addition of this new rule is a timely one, no doubt spurred on by the near misses that happened at the John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York and Austin-Bergstrom Airport (AUS) in the US over the last month.

The first, at JFK airport, included two passenger planes – a B737 and a B777 – operated by Delta and American Airways. Delta had to halt its takeoff roll after air traffic controllers noticed that American’s Boeing 777 had crossed the same runway from another taxiway.

The second, at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, came after Air Traffic Control (ATC) cleared both a Southwest and a FedEx flight to use the same runway. Flight tracking data showed at the two planes were just 308m vertically apart at their closest point.

The FAA have published an updated Part 139 Airport Certification Status List, which identifies a list of airports at which SMS is required. Both Austin-Bergstrom and JKF airport are listed, amongst 200 of America’s busiest commercial airports.

The time to implement SMS ranges from four to five and a half years.

“The safe operation of our nation’s airports is paramount during these historic times in aviation as we work to repair and construct necessary airport infrastructure,” said Associate Administrator for Airports Shannetta R. Griffin, P.E.