Description

The European Runway Safety Initiative (ERSI) began in 2001, at a time when some in Europe believed that runway incursions were a predominantly North American problem. Knowledge of the number of runway incursions in Europe was limited because of a lack of reporting and the poor quality of information contained in the reports. A survey conducted by the Runway Safety Task Force concluded that pilots and controllers throughout Europe considered runway incursions to be one of the most serious safety issues in airport operations.

Since the survey was conducted there have been a number of serious runway incursions and a major runway accident. In 2002 a European Runway Safety workshop took a comprehensive look at the contributory factors apparent in accident and incident reports and wider operational knowledge, and stakeholders contributed to the development of the recommendations contained in the European Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions (EAPRI), first published in 2003 and updated in August 2004 and again in April 2011.

The numbers of runway incursion reports are rising. From the reports that have been received, it is shown that there are a minimum of two runway incursions every day in the European region. Accidents continue to take place on runways. Findings from those incident and accident reports have been used to determine new recommendations contained in the latest update to the European Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions (EAPPRI), Edition 3.0 dated November 2017.

Further Reading

• RWY Safety Maturity Checklist a MS Excel tool developed by CANSO to successfully measure the safety maturity of runways
• RWY Safety Maturity Checklist Flyer
• RWY Safety Maturity Checklist a presentation by EUROCONTROL